Leonard's New Car
by SRAM
Summary: This story happens after Episode 13 of Season 6, The Bakersfield Expedition. Rated "M" for some serious adult interaction.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - The Check**

Another Friday night and unlike many Friday nights before, there was a change, Leonard was just getting home from Raj's place with Sheldon. That night they had actually done something different, after work they had gone to the comic book store, and then to Raj's for dinner and video games. Normally Sheldon would not have agreed to this break from routine but the comic book store had the new Flash comic book he wanted and Raj fixed spaghetti with cut up hotdogs, so he allowed this exception for tonight. The night had been great, and Sheldon seemed to have even enjoyed himself, however that still didn't get them off the hook, so they still were subjected to his ranting on how he was doing them a favor and it would only be this one time. Also, any kind happiness that Sheldon experienced that night didn't last long enough to cover the drive home and like many times during the last few weeks, Leonard had suffered, through another one of Sheldon's scolding's about his driving. So now as he pulled into the parking lot, he was just glad to be back to the apartment, where he could finally put some distance between him and his wacky roommate by retreating to sanctuary of his room.

No sooner that they turned into the apartment parking lot, Sheldon began again, "Finally, another horrible trip through the streets of Pasadena, risking my life just so you all could play video games at Raj's. I don't know why I let you all talk me into these anomalies to our approved routine."

Leonard sighed, "Sheldon, you can't tell me you didn't enjoy yourself, especially since you beat us all with that new HALO expansion pack Raj had."

"Leonard, I see no correlation between my excellent video game skills and you all risking my life in this death trap just so you can play video games at Raj's. We could have just as well played here and not risked my person anymore then necessary." Sheldon admonished him.

"Sheldon, it is nice just to go somewhere different for a change." Leonard regretted his response before it was fully out of his mouth.

"CHANGE! Leonard change is never good and if I could only get your feeble mind to understand that we would not have any more of these absurd nights gallivanting around town like tonight." Sheldon retorted.

Leonard finally brought his rental car to a stop in the apartment parking lot slot and proceeded to shut it down, as Sheldon, in a huff, opened the door and headed off ahead of him, obviously showing his displeasure with his bespectacled roommate. Sheldon had quickly reverted back to unhappy Sheldon, on the trip home, and sometimes Leonard thought that Sheldon didn't seem to like anything, and this rental car, the insurance company gave him, being one of the things he seemed to hate most. The insurance company had temporarily given him a cheap economy car, that was smaller than his original stolen car, while his claim was being settled, and it didn't take Sheldon long to inform Leonard it was completely unsatisfactory. For the last sixty days, which the insurance company insisted on waiting, because they thought they would find his car, he had to suffer through Sheldon's whining. It was bad enough he just flat out hated the car; Sheldon was also completely convinced that if anything hit the rental car, it would fold up like an accordion and they would die in a fiery horrible painful death. So, since Leonard wouldn't go back and insist that the insurance company give him a bigger car, Sheldon made him suffer, constantly complaining on his driving and how that Leonard was going to get them killed in that stupid little car.

Leonard leaned against his rental car, making sure that Sheldon got far ahead of him, he didn't want to walk up the stairs and have to listen to him on his latest rants for a least a few moments that night. So is was after waiting an appropriate amount of time, he finally mustered the courage to walk away from the rental car and follow his roommate up to the fourth floor. However sometimes even Leonard got lucky because as just he stepped towards the apartment building another car entered the parking lot and beeped its horn at him. That horn was distinctively Penny's car, making a smile form on his face, so he stood and watched the other car park, with content feeling coming over him, then walked over to greet his girlfriend, his dread he was experiencing from just a few minutes ago now dissipating as the thoughts of seeing his perking girlfriend now occupied his thoughts. The thing about Penny was she always brightened his day, and after the ride home he had with Sheldon, his day really needed any brightening it could get. Things were so much better with them now, between Penny admitting she loved him and Valentine's day fiasco, their relationship had actually gotten stronger and they both seemed happier for it.

Penny locked her car, then took a couple steps up to Leonard, smiling and then wrapping her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss, because after the hard day she had, it seemed only Leonard could make her feel better. Kissing Leonard had become something so natural to her she didn't even think about it, and the kiss seemed to immediately warm her whole being, tonight especially as she closed her eyes and made it a little bit longer. When she pulled away, she looked at him and a recurring thought crossed her mind that always filled her with wonder, 'How come he always looks so cute?' The next thing she did came as second nature to her too and was so natural for them, she grabbed his hand and they both slowly walked to the apartment door, both immediately feeling better from anything that bothered them that night and smiling with goofy grins at each other.

"How was work?" Leonard asked, continuing to smile at his adorable girlfriend.

"It's the Cheesecake Factory, I spend the whole shift on my feet serving ungrateful people for measly tips, so work sucks as usual, but I am so happy to be home." Penny responded, giving him one of her best cute smiles. "How was video game night."

Leonard sighed, "Well it could have been better."

Penny looked at him, seeing that expression many times in the past, "Aww, where things not happy in Wack-a-doodle land tonight?"

"Sometimes Penny, he is just impossible." Leonard admitted shaking his head.

"You could always move." Penny gave him that advice, then regretted it as soon as she saw his sad eyes look back at her. "I know, I wasn't thinking, I don't want you to move either." She then gave him a smile and a peck on the cheek, getting the hoped-for smile back in return, 'He is so cute when he smiles' the thought immediately filling her mind.

They stayed that way just smiling at each other as they walked in the apartment building, then stopped at the mail boxes to get their mail, such a simple routine even now being enjoyable, just being around each other. This week was Leonard's assigned mail pickup week, per the roommate agreement, so Leonard quickly sorted his mail from Sheldon 's putting them both in their respective piles, while Penny got hers. As Leonard then picked up his pile, his girlfriend flipped through hers, to see if there was anything important.

Penny was already tearing open her mail and was going through it before Leonard had even looked at all his, "Junk, Bill, Junk, Bill, Junk, Oh look, a credit card application!" she exclaimed, and immediately was studying the paperwork, making Leonard pause to look at her and remind himself how adorable she was.

Leonard, with a little smile from watching her, then turned his mind back to his own mail and found a letter from the insurance company, immediately opening it, "Well what do you know, I got my check from the insurance company for my car. They finally gave up trying to find it." Leonard said quietly and sarcastically, standing there looking at the check, his girlfriend's attention now focused back on him.

"So, when do you have to turn the rental car in?" Penny asked

"It says here I have two weeks more to look for a new car, before I have to turn it in." Leonard frowned.

"What's wrong, Baby?" Penny asked as she put her arms around Leonard's neck, giving him a sad look to mimic his frown.

"I don't like buying cars, I always feel I paid too much and didn't get the right options. I don't trust car salesmen either." sadly, he said.

Penny immediately brightened up, "I'll help you, I love shopping for new cars and I am off Sunday, so we can go then." the excitement obvious in her voice.

Leonard chuckled, "You like shopping for new cars or you just like shopping?"

Penny smiled at him and gave him a quick kiss, "Both, but I am a good car shopper."

Leonard frowned, "Like that red Volkswagen you bought?"

Penny playfully swatted him, "Hey you know how much I paid for it right!"

Leonard nodded, it wasn't a great car but then she paid almost nothing for it, so he smiled and said, "Alright, Sunday, it's a date." and then he and Penny went up the stairs to fourth floor, Penny taking the lead, obviously heading them both to her apartment.

They were both surprised when they reached the fourth-floor landing, because there stood Sheldon in the doorway of 4A, and he was waiting for Leonard. Making Leonard think, 'What Hell does he have in store for me now.'

"Leonard, we need to put a clause in the roommate agreement on my transportation needs." Sheldon demanded, holding the roommate agreement in his hands.

Leonard groaned. "Not the Roommate Agreement, please not tonight."

Penny couldn't help but feel sorry for him, she knew Sheldon sometimes drove him up the wall and down the other side. So, she decided to try and help, "Sheldon, hello to you too. It is nice to see you this evening too. I've had a terrible day at work, but thanks for asking." Penny sarcastically said to him, trying to distract him from her boyfriend.

"Penny, I was not talking to you and yes I know that was sarcasm." Sheldon responded, dismissing her and staring at Leonard again. "Yes, the Roommate Agreement, and this needs to settled tonight."

Penny was basically wore out, and already tired of it all, otherwise the next part would never have left her lips, "Sheldon, I have missed Leonard all day, so he is going to take me in my apartment, and rip all my clothes off and coitus me right on the floor, but if you delay him anymore then he can do it here." Penny then pulled Leonard close running her hand up his t-shirt, having it half way pulled up, for Sheldon's benefit.

The effect was instantaneous as Sheldon's eyes went wide, "Well….We can talk about this tomorrow." said a now embarrassed Sheldon, as he disappeared inside 4A, slamming the door behind him.

Leonard looked at Penny's hand then her eyes, confused, "Really?"

"Honey, I just want to go in, get in my pajamas, have a glass of wine, watch TV for a mindless hour, then fall asleep in my nice warm bed, in your arms." the now tired look she gave him backed up her every word.

Leonard gave her a sympathetic smile, "Come on you poor, poor girl, Leonard's is here to take care of you." he then put his arm around her, helping her to the door.

A small smile reformed on Penny face as she opened the door and then she turned to kiss him, "Thank you sweetie." before they both disappeared into her apartment.

Penny got in the shower and washed off, what she called the stink of the Cheesecake Factory, the warm water relaxing her, soothing every part of her body. Then once out of the bathroom, she got on her pajamas and a robe, to go out into the living room and watch a little TV, thoughts of sitting and relaxing fully occupying her mind. Entering the living room, she saw Leonard on the couch, waiting for her, with TV showing a rerun of a romantic comedy show she liked, cheese and crackers on the coffee table, a half glass of wine, and a bottle of water. It was set up just for her and she smiled, sitting close to him, grabbing the water and snacks, eating, while leaning on him and mindlessly watching the show, he was taking care of her and it felt so nice that a sensation of pure contentment was flowing through her whole body. It was really amazing, Leonard always knew how to make her feel comfortable, when she came home from work or was just upset about something, and she admitted to herself she now came to expect him to be there, she didn't want it any other way. As she snuggled into his side, she also realized he was with her more, and, if he wasn't, she would hunt him down, it was actually getting to the point where she needed his company, otherwise she was lonely.

It was so different from months ago, when everything became so awkward, after Leonard asked her to marry him, things seemed to be going too fast again for her and she almost broke up with him. She actually started to do it, she was going to talk to him about just being friends again but then she had looked into his deep dark brown eyes and knew she couldn't hurt him, it would be over for them if she broke up with him again and she cared for him too much to give him up. She had been really lucky that night because unknown to her Alex had showed up shortly after and she wanted Leonard, Penny would have lost him again probably never to get him back again. This thought scared her and sent a small shiver through her, she would have lost all this they had now, this very comfortable feeling she had when she was with him and how she wanted him around pretty much all the time. All these thoughts quickly made her silently sigh inside as she realized she was probably just overthinking things, like Leonard always did. It really was very simple, she was happy and that was all that mattered, so, she grabbed cracker and cheese then looked up at her cute boyfriend.

"Thank you, Sweetie," Penny said between chewing crackers and cheese.

"I should be thanking you. Do you have any idea what I would be doing right now if I was across the hall?" He squeezed her gently a little tighter as she nuzzled herself into him. She was happy she could help him escape Sheldon and very happy he escaped to her. This was where she wanted him to be, with her, always with her.

Penny almost didn't last till the movie ended, her hunger and thirst satisfied, plus a warm Leonard to cuddle, quickly making her eyes close, so it was with her boyfriend's help that they brushed their teeth and went to bed. Penny quickly snuggling back into Leonard's chest, while he wrapped his arm around her, she was now in her little cocoon under the covers. It still amazed Penny how secure and wonderful it felt to be in Leonard's arms at night, and she loved how he would sometimes stick his face so close to her that she could feel his breath on her. It was funny that he was the only man that could make her feel like that, it was a feeling she had never felt from anyone else, not Kurt or even Mike, it made her feel special, loved, even cherished. She also loved how Leonard treated her, he treated her as an equal and he respected her and how she felt. Like right now, he knew she worked hard and was tired, so he made things as good as he could for her, and pampered her, making it easy for her to relax and rest. She remembered how it had been with Kurt and how he never cared how she felt and would probably be humping her right now, instead of letting her tired body get the sleep it needed. Leonard made her life better, so much better, he was a wonderful man, and those were her last thoughts as Penny put her hand in Leonard's, their fingers quickly becoming intertwined, before falling into a deep sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2 - Sheldon's help**

Saturday Morning, Leonard gently woke Penny up so she could go to work, the lunch and dinner shifts at the Cheesecake Factory. On weekend mornings she had to work, it had become an unspoken agreement between them, his job was to wake her up, to get her out of bed, so she could be to work on time, because on her own she was usually late. Being woke up by Leonard was also comforting and so much better than when she slept alone and had to wake herself up. It usually involved little squeezes, cuddles and kisses that always left her with a smile on her lips, she would then get a quick shower, while Leonard made coffee and food for her to eat before she left, however in the back of her mind wishing she didn't have to leave and wishing that she was still in bed with him. These mornings she only got about 15 minutes to talk to him, as she ate and drank before she went out the door, and now as she happily looked at him thinking how cute he looked in the morning, she spoke. "So, what is the routine today? Comic book store or a Doctor Who marathon and maybe an exciting visit to a train store?" she said sarcastically.

Leonard shook his head with a little smile on his face, "I actually wish for routine today from last night. But sadly, Howard is going somewhere with Bernadette this weekend and taking Raj with them to some family thing. That is how we ended up at Raj's last night and why Sheldon is so upset."

Penny sipped her coffee, then with a serious look that couldn't mask the twinkle in her eye. "You sure that Sheldon's being so disturbed isn't because he is 'Men-struating', it could be his time of the month." Penny then brought her cup up to hide the smile on her face.

Leonard chuckled at her wit, "I wish, then I could just give him a couple Advils and a half gallon of ice cream to keep him happy."

"Hey that works, it has kept me from wanting to tear your head off several times." Penny protested with a false frown on her face and then a giggle afterward.

"Okay, I understand, I will keep ice cream in my refrigerator for just such emergencies." Leonard said with a smile and a wink.

"Rocky Road has the most therapeutic properties." Penny added and leaned over the table to give him a kiss.

It was only a few minutes later Penny sadly stared at him, just before she closed the apartment door behind her. Leaving him on his days off was depressing for her, she so didn't want to leave him, the thoughts of the night before coming back to her because she could now only think that they never seemed to have enough time alone and she never grew tired of him. She slowly made her was down the steps to the parking lot and her car, the only thing that kept her going was knowing when she got off work, she would be with him again.

Leonard cleaned the dishes and even straighten up a little, only a little, then went across the hall to get ready for his day. Sheldon, was already dressed and of course was in his spot, watching TV and just grunted acknowledgement of Leonard's presence as Leonard carefully sat on the opposite end of the couch. Leonard had put most of the mail on the approved mail spot, for new mail, except for his insurance letter, which he had taken with him to the couch. Sheldon was in the zone when he watched TV, so Leonard tuned him out, while he looked through the paperwork and the check sent by the insurance company, concerning the reimbursement for his stolen car. This went on for several minutes in complete silence until he read a certain section of the paperwork, then absent mindedly let out a sigh, which of course caught the attention of his roommate.

"Leonard you know I'm trying to watch TV. You know I watch TV on Saturday mornings and this morning is an extended Dr. Who marathon." Sheldon admonished him.

Leonard thought 'Penny sure got that one right' then just looked at Sheldon with aggravation, "Sheldon, I am just a little bit flustered at all the rules and regulations, covering my reimbursement for my stolen car, the insurance company sent me."

"I don't care, just go get upset someplace else. Like your room or Penny's apartment, which you seem to like so much." Sheldon dismissed him.

Leonard just looked at Sheldon, deciding immediately that it was not worth arguing about, especially with him, so he got up and left to get a shower, then get dressed for the day.

It was only minutes after Leonard left, that Sheldon glanced over at the paperwork, Leonard left on the table, and decided to read it while he enjoyed the Dr. Who spectacle before him. Leonard was right for once, the rules where quite annoying and as he read all the documentation, he logically determined that this was too much for Leonard's pedestrian mind to handle and he was not qualified to buy a new car, especially one Sheldon was going to have to ride in. The last car Leonard owned, had been barely sufficient, and the rental car he was now driving was completely unacceptable, so Sheldon concluded that Leonard's car selection ability was degrading considerably. Leonard would buy on emotion and not on the important needs of Dr. Sheldon Cooper, so he determined there was only one recourse, he was going to manage the buying of Leonard's new car. This revelation made Sheldon even consider the problem more, there was only one way this was going to end satisfactorily for him, he determined he would also have to go out and pick the car Leonard was going to buy.

Leonard finally came out of his room dressed and refreshed as he headed back into the living room to find a very disturbing scene, Sheldon waiting and looking at him. This worried and scared Leonard, because anytime Sheldon looked at him like that it always ended badly for Leonard.

"Leonard, this paperwork says you only have two weeks more of use of the rental car so you only have a little over a week to get a new one. Shouldn't you be looking this weekend for a new car?" Sheldon asked, making it sound like he was lecturing a child.

Leonard couldn't argue with Sheldon's logic, his tone pissed him off, but he was right that he had to do something soon. "Yeah you're right, I probably need to start looking for a car soon." He was of course thinking about tomorrow with Penny.

"Of course, I'm right, the sooner you get a new car, the sooner I don't have to ride in that death trap, you are currently driving. So, get your wallet and keys and let's go car shopping." and with that Sheldon got up and started heading to the door.

Leonard looked at him, suspicion on his face, "Wait a minute, you want to go car shopping with me? That doesn't sound right. Why Sheldon?"

"Leonard you are my friend, and therefore, as my friend I am here to help you in your time of need. Besides I don't think you know squat about buying cars." Sheldon was then out the door before Leonard could respond.

Leonard just sighed, picked up his keys from the bowl, closed and locked the door, then headed down the stairs mumbling, "Great, just freaking great!"

The drive to the first dealership was already a bad omen, with Sheldon listing the features he felt necessary for any car Leonard bought, the whole trip to the dealership. It seemed Sheldon had the time to write up a list of features he determined were needed on any car Leonard purchased and had managed to do this in the short time it had taken Leonard to shower and get dressed. So, during the whole drive, Sheldon talked non-stop about the pros and cons of different types of motor vehicles and which met his safety criteria. Leonard was already regretting going out with him, to look at cars, and they hadn't even looked at one yet. It was almost a relief when they got to the first dealership and they were able to get out of the car, so Leonard could talk to someone else, even if it was a car salesman.

Leonard didn't realize what he was getting himself into and that he was going to spend the next 6 hours at car dealers with Sheldon and it would be hell. Sheldon had decided early on that Leonard needed a Sport Utility Vehicle or SUV because of their ability for protection of passengers, on their drive out. He had told Leonard that driving with Leonard risked his life every day and a SUV was the only way he felt any safer with the way Leonard drove. Sheldon as a result would keep telling Leonard every statistic on auto safety and crashes to justify the reason Leonard needed to buy an SUV, the whole time they were out. What made things worse was the sales staff at each dealership they would go to, getting better commissions from selling expensive SUV's, would back Sheldon up on every detail, trying to sell Leonard on their most expensive models. Sheldon then would take it a step further by going on to explain how the weight or mass of biggest and most expensive put them at a great advantage if they should contact another car. Leonard would soon be learning more than he ever wanted to know about cars and all he would do, under his breathe, was to pray Sheldon would just shut up!

The whole car shopping experience soon would become a total disaster, because every car dealer they went to Sheldon would immediately tell the salesperson that Leonard wanted to see SUV's. It would end up that Leonard had spent the whole day only looking at SUV's. Leonard would see big SUV's and little SUV's and everything in between, including each model of each size. As the day progressed, Leonard had come to hate SUV's more and more as Sheldon went on and on. Each dealership contributing to the hell Leonard felt and fueling Sheldon to be even more demanding.

This debacle all began at the first dealership they arrived at, setting the tone for the day, and making Leonard immediately realize what a mistake this outing had been. Sheldon took charge, immediately responding to the salesman's 'How can I help you' and dominating the whole visit in a way only Sheldon could do. Him of course just telling the eager salesperson, "We want to see your Sport Utility Vehicles." immediately beginning the whole torturous procedure.

Sheldon had the salesman show him everything, that resembled a SUV, while Leonard followed along, not able to get a word in edgewise or even see an actual car he liked. It got worse when Sheldon was shown that the larger models even had a TV for the back seat, making Sheldon realize he could watch some of his favorite TV shows to and from work, while Leonard chauffeured him each day. "Leonard, it even has a DVD player so I can watch my favorite movies when we go to work."

"Sheldon if you think I'm going to drive you around while you watch movies from the back seat, you are even crazier that I thought." Leonard answered, his voice dripping with disgust.

"Leonard, I don't know how many times I need to remind you that my mother had me tested and driving me around is one of your great accomplishments in life, much more important than your dismal physics career." Sheldon shot back making Leonard just shake his head, unwilling to keep the stupid conversation going, especially in front of the salesperson.

Since Sheldon kept dominating Leonard's car shopping, it wasn't long before Leonard noticed that the salesman completely ignoring him, probably thinking that Leonard actually worked for Sheldon, as his man servant or something like that. So, Leonard waited for almost 30 minutes, enough time for Sheldon to finish his tour with the salesman, before the salesman finally realized that Sheldon wasn't buying a car. The salesman quickly leaving Sheldon to talk to Leonard, but stopping and thinking better of it, when Leonard gave him a look that would melt iron.

Leonard left that first dealership, with not looking at a single car he would consider and without a single idea of how much a new car would even cost since he had not looked at anything but Sheldon approved SUV's. Sheldon, on the other hand, was happily sitting next to him with several SUV specific car brochures, while he provided small "Fun Facts" about each and every model. Leonard was actually happy to get to the next dealership just so he didn't have to listen to another word from Sheldon about weight verses crash protection for each model of SUV.

However, the next dealership was actually worse, the salesman thought they were a couple, Sheldon being the female half of the partnership, and Leonard was buying him a new car. Leonard didn't know what bothered him more, people thinking they were in a gay relationship or him being Sheldon's manservant, but this salesman was putting gay relationship at the top of the list right now. It made Leonard mentally sigh as he told himself it was still better than the third thing that bothered him sometimes, that people didn't understand Sheldon and just thought he was some escaped looney, and by association Leonard being with him meant he was a looney too.

Of course, Sheldon never understood what was happening and carried on as before, making Leonard just want to hide someplace until it was all over. Again, like the last dealership, the salesman catered to Sheldon's every whim and after about an hour, happily walked over to his desk with Sheldon to start the paperwork, for his new SUV, only to then suddenly find out Sheldon wasn't buying anything. The salesman then quickly looked for Leonard only to see him sitting in the rental car ready to leave.

"Isn't your partner buying this for you?" the confused man finally asked Sheldon.

"Me, no, I don't drive." Sheldon informed the man. "And Leonard is not my partner, though he is a physicist, he is only an experimental physicist while I'm in the theoretical side of physics."

This didn't help the salesman's confusion, "But I thought you both were, you know, Gay." the salesman tried to explain, his bewilderment now fully on display.

"I'll have you know I have a girlfriend." Sheldon said in a huff then stood up from the desk, "Good Day sir." as he stormed out to the rental car that Leonard was now sitting in, with the engine running, waiting for Sheldon, to leave.

"So, did you get everything straightened out?" Leonard asked trying not to chuckle, he didn't hear the conversation between Sheldon and the Salesman but he had seen Sheldon's actions enough to know that Sheldon was upset.

"Leonard, he thought we were Gay!" Sheldon responded with indignation.

"Yeah, I sort of got that." Leonard said with a smile, a small huff coming from Sheldon, before he mumbled, "Like I would date you if I was gay."

Leonard ignored the insult partly because he was used to doing that with Sheldon and partly because no more words came from his roommate's mouth. Sheldon actually just quietly stared out the window, the whole trip to the next dealership, making it the best time, between driving between dealerships, for Leonard that day. He actually thought things might be looking up for him during this car shopping experience, but alas he was wrong.

The third dealership sold European cars and even had a couple that looked interesting to Leonard, so as Sheldon talked to the salesman, Leonard actually went over to look at them. However, that moment of freedom was not to last as it only took Sheldon about 5 minutes with the salesman to realize that none of the SUV's they had were big enough for him. So, Sheldon went to find Leonard and when he did, he immediately began to pester Leonard to get out of there to see another dealership that had the vehicles he desired. Leonard had just wanted to see inside one of the cars, but Sheldon's whining and obnoxious attitude, after only a couple minutes, even drove the salesman away, that followed him over to Leonard. It then only took a couple more minutes, for Sheldon's incisive whining to get so embarrassing from the scene he was creating, for Leonard to decide to go. He never did get to actually see inside any of the cars he wanted at that dealership and after the scene Sheldon made, he doubted he could ever go back there without being embarrassed.

The fourth dealership was about the same as the first, however it was that dealership the new list appeared, Leonard never even seeing Sheldon make it. It was obvious started at the first dealership as the paper and pen had that dealerships logo all over them, and it looked to be an updated list from the one Sheldon first brought with him, but this new list made Leonard feel he was just put in a cage. Sheldon gave the salesman the new list, and they immediately showed Sheldon their big SUV's with all the features, like TV and DVD, while Leonard sat in the waiting room having some coffee and trying to find some aspirins. Sheldon kept first one then another salesman busy showing him everything, for over an hour, before they finally figured out that he wasn't buying a car but some guy named Leonard was. It was a couple minutes after that, that Sheldon finally stormed over to Leonard, after the salesmen gave him SUV literature, wanting to leave, since they wouldn't help him anymore. What was actually funny was they never asked if Leonard was there, much to Leonard's relief, so Leonard drove off as fast as he could before getting caught.

The fifth and sixth dealership were about the same, the new list came out and the salespeople lead them to the SUVs, except this time Sheldon told salespeople that Leonard wanted to test drive the models Sheldon liked. Leonard was then forced to take the SUV's out for short drives while Sheldon played with all the backseat gadgets like a child, the whole test drive. Leonard hated every minute and no sooner got back then told each dealership he would think about their vehicles, got the salesmen's cards and got the hell out of there.

It was after getting back into the car from the sixth dealership, after practically having to pull Sheldon away from the salesman, who wanted to make him a real good deal on the land-yacht that Leonard was forced to test drive, his tension headache became too hard to ignore. Leonard couldn't believe what a bad day it had been, but then the last dealership was the worst because during the test drive, he didn't want to do in the first place, they almost had gotten in an accident because of the sheer size of the large SUV.

Sheldon liked the largest ones, because he said if they were good enough for the secret-service they were good enough for him. However, this time Sheldon and the salesperson had made him drive around the Pasadena city streets with one of the largest models of SUV and while making a tight turn, he almost hit another car, because the hood was so long and he was so short. That had been the last straw, Leonard got back to the dealership, and told the salesman again he would consider it, then he told Sheldon they needed to leave if they were going to see more dealerships, to try to get him to leave while the salesman tried to get them to sit down and discuss price. So, when they finally had gotten back in the rental car, Leonard just drove home, ignoring Sheldon's ranting about the dealers they still had to go to because after 6 hours Leonard was through and needed to come home to treat his pounding headache.

Leonard was walking up the stairs wondering about where his aspirin was, with Sheldon close behind him. Sheldon had his arms full of SUV brochures from the car dealers and was going on about this one's features compared to that one's features. Leonard had tuned Sheldon out a long time ago, so when he got to the apartment, he just made a beeline to his room and shut the door. It really didn't do any good because Sheldon knocked on his door 5 minutes later.

Knock, knock, knock, "Leonard," knock, knock, knock, "Leonard," knock, knock, knock, "Leonard," he waited a second, "I know you're in there."

"Sheldon what is it!" Leonard shouted

"Leonard, we really need to talk about the car you are going to buy for me." Sheldon told him.

"Sheldon, the car is for me, not you." Leonard said in frustration

"Ok, the car you need to buy, to drive me in." He corrected

"Sheldon, leave me alone." Leonard was so tired

"Leonard, you have just over a week to make a decision and buy the SUV." Sheldon admonished him.

"Sheldon, I don't think I even want to buy a SUV." Leonard said through the door.

"Leonard a SUV is the only logical choice. Statistics show.." Sheldon went on for the next ten minutes reciting facts and figures to Leonard, as Leonard pulled the pillow over his head. Leonard's headache was now worse.

After Sheldon stopped, Leonard got an idea, "Sheldon why don't you put together Pro/Con charts and specification comparison charts for us to look at later." he said with fake enthusiasm.

"Leonard that is a great idea, I'll start immediately on it." then Sheldon was gone.

Leonard sighed in relief, he decided to take a nap, thinking maybe his headache would go away. 'Please God, make Sheldon take a while to do his thing.' Leonard prayed as he fell to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 - Some place to go**

A couple of hours later, Leonard woke to look at the clock. It was almost 8 PM, he had actually gotten two hours sleep and his headache was gone. He now felt better but he knew that could rapidly change if he had to talk to Sheldon again tonight. He had reached his maximum Sheldon limit for the day; he just wanted to see Penny and have a nice night. So, Leonard lay in bed, trying to figure out a way to get out of the apartment without running into Sheldon, nevertheless he was not having any success, until by luck, he heard Sheldon go into the bathroom. He knew he had little time so he immediately grabbed his jacket and shoes and tiptoed out of his room in his sock covered feet, he had done this before with some success and he hoped tonight was one of those days. He tried to be as quiet as possible, listening until he heard the toilet flush, then using that cover noise to trick Sheldon's extraordinary hearing he swiftly moved through the living room, grabbing his keys as he opened the apartment door, for his escape from his apartment.

Leonard sighed in relief as he got out of the apartment, quietly closing the door behind him, then quickly and still quietly moving towards Penny's apartment still trying to be as quiet as possible. This was one of the reasons, he loved being with Penny, she gave him a place to go to get away from Sheldon, and he loved her for it. He softly closed the door behind him as he entered and then looked around at her apartment, deciding since he was there, he would fix things up for her when she returned, because he knew she would be tired and her feet would be sore, when she got home. Also, it would give him something to do for the next couple of hours, as he hid from Sheldon.

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Penny drug herself home from work, it had been another hard-busy day for her, which was normal for Saturdays, but today it had been a little bit worse. Today, she had a horrible time trying to keep her mind on work, and it seemed that whenever she wasn't specifically talking to someone she was daydreaming about Leonard. It wasn't unusual for her to think about Leonard while at work, heck she had even thought about him at work when they were not a couple, but today was different. She had been unable to get him out of her mind and she blamed it on last night, he was so sweet and caring it made her feel like she was even more in love with him, those thoughts staying with her the whole day. Actually, they confused her, she couldn't get over the feeling of being more in love with him, 'love was love' she thought, she was never more in love with Kurt or even Mike, but Leonard she had this feeling. Of course, that made her miss him and that made her want him and that made her think even more about him.

Her obsession about Leonard had gotten so bad that a couple of waitresses had asked her if she was okay and she had to write orders down in extreme detail otherwise she would forget them as soon as she left a table. It was driving her nuts but she couldn't help herself, she just kept picturing different things her and Leonard could be doing if she wasn't working at the Cheesecake Factory that day. Her daydreams going from just staying in bed all day, sleeping, making love, eating and watching TV while cuddled together, to going outside on a walk, visiting a fair and having a picnic, which also led to them making love in the forest. Actually, all her daydreams had them making love sometime and somewhere, making Penny's distraction even worse. Even now as she walked into the apartment building and looked up at the stairs, she couldn't get Leonard out of her mind, the urge to kiss and hug him driving her sore legs up each stair to him.

It was with a little trepidation that Penny put her key into the lock of her apartment door, a fear that when she walked in her apartment it would be dark and alone, Leonard not there. It made her realize that sometime over the last few months she had begun to feel her home seemed much warmer and full of life when Leonard was underfoot, even when she was aggravated with him, she still wanted him there. She also knew if she opened the door and he wasn't inside she would look for him, after the day she had today she had to have him, there was no way she now could be alone tonight without him.

Penny opened up the door and walked in, a small smile immediately forming on her lips, seeing her apartment lights on and then seeing him at her kitchen counter smiling at her. They just looked at each other for a long moment and it was only after she tore her eyes away that she saw that he had been busy, making things nice for her when she returned from work. He had takeout food on her coffee table and a foot bath sitting on the floor in front of the couch, it made her smile get bigger as she took it all in, again her thoughts of how he was so good to her, dominating her mind.

"Hey You" she said as she closed the door behind her then walked directly up to him, to kiss him while hugging him tight, his body being against hers satisfying a need that had been growing the whole day.

Leonard felt her pull her body to his and hands on him, her arms now wrapped around his neck making him feel that she must really be worn out. So, it was almost automatic for him to start rubbing her back, getting a soft moan from her as she pressed herself closer to him. "I've got some takeout on the table if you are hungry."

Penny nuzzled her head into his neck, "Are you going to eat with me." she whispered

"Yes, unless you don't want the company." he responded hoping she did want him to stay.

Penny couldn't help herself; she kissed his neck softly then whispered, "I want you to stay the night, too."

It was several more minutes before they let go of each other, spending the next hour just eating, drinking, while Penny soaked her feet and talked to her wonderful boyfriend. Penny felt in heaven, it was so relaxing, again just what she had been wanting all day, contentment filling her whole being, just like the night before. Again, as she talked to him, it made her think, her thoughts filled with love for the man sitting next to her and her smile got bigger while her feelings for him swelled in her heart. "What?" he finally said to her as she had been gazing at him not saying a word.

"Nothing. Well not nothing. I'm a little crushing on you right now for the last night and tonight." Penny admitted.

She didn't know that part of Leonard's considerate little effort, he had made for her, was because he had to escape Sheldon, who had been relentless on what kind of SUV Leonard should buy. So, it was a little surprise when she saw him look guilty as he looked back at her. "I wish I could honestly say everything was for you, but that wouldn't exactly be true. I escaped to here to get away from Sheldon and while here, I thought you would be tired, so then I did this."

Penny just wanted to hug him again he was adorable in his confession, so she did, and whispered in his ear. "Sweetie, you can come to me anytime you want, I want you to always have a place to go." she followed her words with a kiss to his cheek then held him even tighter.

They spent the next half hour just holding and gently kissing each other, the feeling of Leonard against her all that was needed by Penny to feel good and happy. They also decided to get ready for bed earlier than usual that night, because Penny was very tired from work and Leonard was more than wore out from Sheldon and his shopping. Penny actually looking forward to laying down with Leonard, her back against his chest and his arms wrapped around her, again the feeling of happiness and contentment filling her soul. However, sleep wasn't immediate for her as her mind now thought about him, him being there with her and how he made her happy being in her life.

Everything had really changed since they both admitted their love for each other, but however fast that change had come she had to admit that she could actually see that those changes for her had changed for the better and she was happy. It wasn't just happy either, it was a happiness that seemed to resonate from her soul and just the thought of Leonard would make her smile for hours, when he was not around, that day at work sure proved that. He was quickly becoming everything she needed in life and him not being a part of her life anymore just didn't seem like an option, the thought of being with him forever now not as scary as before and actually bringing a smile to her face. She was just so happy and as she got more comfortable in her favorite sleeping position, the contentment she now felt relaxed her even more, putting her asleep before she even knew it.

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Morning came and the sun light in Penny's bedroom woke Leonard up. He normally always woke up before Penny and today was no exception. He looked at the clock and saw it was 9 AM and knew Penny would not want to get up this early so he tried to sleep a little longer. At times like this he usually just rested and enjoyed just holding her, listening to her and burying his face in her hair. So, Leonard laid there for an hour and a half before he decided they needed to get up for the day to go car shopping.

Leonard gently squeezed her, kissed her, then softly said in her ear, "Penny it's time to get up. We have a busy day ahead of us."

Penny partially woke up to those softly spoken words and her mind started to acknowledge that it was morning. However, she was also warm and comfortable, so she laid there, not completely awake, trying to figure out what she had to get up for and what she had to do today. Her mind did remember it was not a work day, and she was not awake enough to remember anything else therefore she just decided she was not ready to get out of bed, and so the game began.

Penny and Leonard actually had been sleeping together more and more since they said "I Love You" but rarely did they have mornings together where one was not going to work or had some appointment to make. Penny also usually didn't have to be at work at the Cheesecake Factory till the lunch shift and many times worked till closing so she was not a morning person and didn't usually get up before 10AM. She even warned Sheldon never to come over unexpected till after 11AM, so that she was awake and had her coffee. On those rare mornings when Leonard and Penny only had to wake for themselves or to do things, like the plans they had for today, it was usually Leonard that had to get them up. It was also on days like this, that Penny knew she had a little time, she would be stubborn about getting up and liked to tease Leonard. So, since this morning they had a few minutes and Penny was feeling especially lazy so she started the first step in their game.

Penny pushed in closer to Leonard because not only did it let him know she didn't want to get up but Leonard had a natural reaction to cuddle her tighter when she did that. She knew, wrapped tight in his arms, she had made it more difficult for Leonard make her get up. This game immediately took her over and actually made her more awake, as she pushed even harder against him giggling like a school girl as poor Leonard tried to respond.

Leonard couldn't help but chuckle when he realized what she was doing and since she had started it and they had a few minutes, he started to play along. He could always get her up quickly by tickling her sides but he used that as only an extreme last resort because she always complained he was cheating due to her vulnerability. In exchange, she agreed to not cheat by using sex, something she was very good at and would always win. She had once played and kept him in bed for three hours, her personal best, but she had stripped them both that time and kept rubbing her body on his, coming close to violating the sex rule, and he had to resort to tickling to get her out of bed or they would have ended up being there all day. Today, she seemed to be a little frisky, so Leonard went to his first move to counter her cuddling close to him.

Leonard moved his lips to her neck and started to kiss and nibble her neck, this was one of his best moves on her and could end the game quickly when he knew they didn't have much time. Depending on her mood and how giggly she was, he would get her out of bed this way when she squirmed to get away. The worst thing he could do was do anything at all erotic to her because she would bury herself closer to him and start to get even more out of control. Today she was all giggles and only lasted about a minute before she pulled away from him, so he took his advantage and jumped out of bed and pulled the covers with him and off her, going immediately for the win. Once removed from her warm nest and her covers to hide in taken, she gave up in defeat and moved to edge of bed to get her robe, while sitting on the edge, pouting at him.

"That wasn't fair", she said in a little girl's voice as she looked up at him with her bottom lip sticking out in a sad little pout.

He smiled "Did I tell you look beautiful today and that I Love You".

She put her hands to her hair and messed it up and looked at him with a smile on her face "You men will say anything to get a girl out of bed. I Love You, too, honey." She then gave him a wicked smile. "By the way you're going to pay later for throwing me out of the bed by cheating", she said with a hint of a threat. "Now get out of here while I get ready, you've lost your right to shower with me."

Leonard gave her a sad pout, which made her giggle, then went to Penny's small kitchen to get the coffee brewing. Last night he had gotten some good coffee and fruit filled croissants for their breakfast this morning, before they left. So, he had the coffee fixed and the food on the kitchen bar when she finished her quick shower and came out of the bedroom.

"Wow, coffee and croissants, what did I do to deserve all this attention this morning and last night?" she said as she grabbed her cup of coffee. Starting to sip the steaming brew, while looking at him, made all the warm comfortable feelings from the night before return and it had nothing to do with the coffee.

Leonard just smiled, "Think about it, Penny, I spent almost the whole day with Sheldon, before I was able to escape to here, this is just your award for giving me asylum and being so you." he gave her a little wink.

"Well, I am adorable." she said with a laugh and then gave him a kiss. What they were doing was so domestic and Penny couldn't help how good it felt.

The next few minutes they just sat a drank their coffee and ate, while they talked about their plans for the day. Leonard had to take a quick shower and put on fresh clothes, so he was thinking about that when he realized he had to go back across the hall, and that meant seeing Sheldon. Happy Leonard of a few moments before, was now worried Leonard full of dread.

Everything had been so perfect that Penny noticed his mood change immediately, "What's wrong sweetie?" she asked him.

"Oh, nothing." Leonard replied, but Penny could tell it was something and she couldn't bear right now him being unhappy.

"Leonard. Tell me what's wrong." Penny told him sternly, but with no anger in her voice, she loved him, she was not mad at him.

"I need a shower and to put some clean clothes on, so I have to go across the hall, and Sheldon is there." Leonard confessed

Penny was confused, he always did that, why is it different now? "What is happening between you and Sheldon?" she asked in concern.

"Ever since my car was stolen, Sheldon has been getting even more insufferable than he usually is. Yesterday, he wanted me to take him car shopping, so I thought, I would do a little looking then and more with you today. But Penny, he drove me crazy yesterday, I really wanted to take him out of the city and leave him in the woods, or something worse. If I didn't have you here to go to, I would have probably run away from home. It's stupid I know." Leonard told her; despair evident in his voice.

'Poor sweet Leonard', Penny thought, "Honey, I don't know how you do it, he would have driven me up the wall a lot sooner than now. I like all your friends, but it amazes me how you been able to put up as a roommate to Sheldon for so long." she told him compassionately. Then she had a thought, "Sweetie, take your shower here and tell me what clothes you want and I'll get them for you."

"You don't have to do that. I can get them." Leonard said, now embarrassed.

"Sweetie, last night and this morning have been perfect, and I want the rest of the day to be the same, so I don't want you stressed. You are my boyfriend and now it is time for me to do something for you. Besides, if he says just one cross word to me, I will go all junior rodeo on his ass." Penny said smiling and giving Leonard a wink.

"Oh no, not Junior Rodeo." Leonard said, which made them both chuckle. "Thank you, Penny, you're great, and by-the-way, you are always doing some things for me." he told her, while giving her a wink.

Penny chuckled, again, "Well if you are good physicist, tonight I will do something real special for you." she said as she gave him the most seductive smile she could.

Leonard smiled back at her, then they discussed what he needed from his room in the way of clothes. Penny taking note of everything he said, then getting her spare key to his apartment and heading out the door to 4A and her boyfriend's wacky roommate.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 - Penny to the rescue**

Penny moved quickly across the hall, while Leonard got into her shower, very determined to get Leonard's clothes and protect him by keeping him away from Sheldon. So, no sooner than she reached the 4A door, Penny inserted her key to their apartment and walked right in, determined to just get Leonard's clothes and leave. She realized though that getting Leonard's clothes may not be as easy as she hoped when she was greeted with Sheldon sitting in his spot and watching TV.

"Hello, who's there, well hello Penny, come right in." Sheldon said sarcastically while giving her a stern look.

"Well hello to you too, Sheldon." Penny said with way too much enthusiasm

Sheldon ignored her greeting, he had more important things on his mind, "Where is Leonard?" Sheldon demanded, not asked.

"In my apartment." Penny answered curtly

"Why isn't he with you?" Sheldon responded, obviously not happy with her response

"He is taking a shower and I am getting his clothes for when he gets out." Penny said while looking at him, then with a small smile crossing her lips. "We plan on going out for the day." Penny stated enthusiastically

"I need to see him, now." Sheldon stated, sounding a little demanding

Penny had been taking glances around the room while they talked, mostly because there were three whiteboards set up there with lots of writing on them. There being whiteboards up was not really unusual for the guys apartment and them being full of their science stuff was not unusual either, what was unusual was that Penny could understand some of the stuff written on them. That made her curious what Sheldon was up to, "Why...and what is this on your whiteboards?"

"Though it doesn't concern you, I'm deciding what Sport Utility Vehicle Leonard will be buying to replace his stolen car. I need to tell him about my evaluation and give him the results." Sheldon stated flatly

Penny now noticed the stack of car brochures on the coffee and as she looked back at the whiteboards, she could see the lists of cars, no SUV's, he had placed on them with all kinds of numbers after each one. It made her understand why Leonard was so depressed about coming back to his apartment and it even made Penny more determined to save him.

"You can see him, later. Right now, he is mine." Penny flatly told him; the previous enthusiasm now gone from her voice.

"Penny, you don't understand..."

Penny cut him off, "Oh, I understand completely and I'm not letting you ruin Leonard's day."

"Ruin his day! I'm improving his day with important information that will steer him to make the right decision on a vehicle purchase." Sheldon told her.

"Yeah, I think he can live without your important information." she flatly replied, as she again glanced at the whiteboards and brochures on the table.

Sheldon basically ignored her again and stood up to go across the hall, "We'll see." was all he said.

However, Penny was not letting him near Leonard and got right in front of him, "And where do you think you are going?"

Sheldon immediately felt uncomfortable at Penny's proximity and stepped back. "Penny stand out of the way so I can talk to Leonard."

"There is only one way this is going to end Sheldon, either you are going to sit back down and watch TV or you and me are going to have some real problems." Penny threatened while staring him in the eye with her hands on her hips.

Penny's aggressive stance actually made Sheldon concerned about what she could do, he already considered her a loose cannon, her temper was already notorious in their group. He immediately determined that the risk was not worth talking to Leonard right now, "How much later." Sheldon demanded

"Oh, I should be done with him by tomorrow morning, when you go to work." Penny said more calmly with a smile.

"That is unacceptable. I need to see him today." Sheldon demanded and started to go around Penny again.

So, Penny for the second time stepped in front of him, and in a very low serious voice, "Well sweetie, you will see him tomorrow and if you try to see him any earlier, I will punch your throat, and hogtie you. Do you understand me, Dr Cooper?" making the last part sound like a very serious threat.

Sheldon didn't know when Penny was trying to intimidate him or was serious, so he always errored on the serious side. She looked very serious right now, "Ok, Penny, tomorrow." Sheldon said simply, taking a step back.

Penny's demeanor quickly changed and she gave him a big smile, "Good, it looks like we reached an understanding." she told him, then she started towards Leonard's bedroom to get his stuff, but before she went down the hall she turned and again in a very seriously tone addressed Sheldon, "Don't you dare leave that seat while I'm in here", she then gave him a warning glare, "I mean it Sheldon."

Sheldon made the move to sit down in his seat and while doing that just nodded, to let her know he understood, however he then tried to regain his dignity from the Nebraskan farm girl, "Where else would I go to watch Dr. Who." he responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, right, where else would you go to watch Dr. Who." Penny repeated sarcastically and very seriously just before she went to Leonard's room.

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The interaction with Sheldon was still on her mind, while she put Leonard's clothes on her bed, feelings of how whenever Sheldon made Leonard unhappy it made her unhappy, too. It was only after her running her hand over his clothes, she had placed on her bed, that those thoughts seem to be diminished, replaced with happy thoughts that Leonard was with her now and she would be spending the day with him. It actually made her feel warm and content all over, knowing she would be with him all day and be able to hold him and talk to him when she wanted, it was all she had thought about the day before and now it seemed that her wishes were coming true. She had to forcefully tear herself away from her daydreaming to get ready for their outing, turning to her closet, the need to look good today now foremost in her mind. So, she threw the robe she was wearing on the bed and started to rummage through her closet, in her underwear, looking for something cute to look good for her man.

Leonard got out of the shower, then dried off, finishing quickly before entering Penny's bedroom to get his clothes, only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw his girlfriend walking around in only her bra and panties, looking in her wardrobe for something to wear. Leonard was always dazzled by her; she was breathtaking and he could easily just watch her forever. So, Leonard stood there for a couple moments, just watching, still in disbelief that she was his girlfriend and that someone like her could really care for him.

Penny got the feeling that she was being watched and so turned to see Leonard just staring at her, which made her smile. She had definitely fallen in love with him, really in love, and seeing how he looked at her, made her realize he would always love her and lust over her. She suddenly wanted to bed him right there and now, but she knew they needed to get this car buying thingy over and they needed to get some of it done today, so she would have to wait till tonight to do all the things she wanted to do with him. Therefore, she just continued smiling at him, her smile getting a little wicked as the thought of teasing him now came to her mind. "Leonard, get you clothes on, you missed your chance this morning when you stole my covers." she told him, trying not to laugh.

Penny's voice broke him out of his trance, "Yeah, sorry, it will only take me a minute." he said in embarrassment from being caught just staring at her.

He looked so cute, Penny couldn't help herself, so she seductively strolled over to him and put her arms around his neck to kiss him. They actually kissed for a significant while, Penny finding herself enjoying it immensely, then when their lips parted, Penny put her lips close to his ear, so her hot breathe could be felt. "Honey, I wasn't kidding about later, so let's get his car shopping over."

The thoughts of later made Penny and Leonard quickly get dressed, and give the apartment a quick straightening out, before they got their keys and headed out the door. The trip down the stairs turning out to be one of the most difficult Leonard had ever made. Unknown to him, he had made the mistake of proceeding down the stairs in front of Penny and she was still in a teasing mood, deciding she wanted her revenge from the covers incident that morning. It was time for payback, and because he won their game from the morning, and his tushie was so cute, she proceeded to pinch _Leonar_d's butt as he went down the stairs, every chance she got.

Leonard was having trouble running down the narrow stairs, trying to keep his butt away from Penny and laughing at what was happening, all at the same time on his trip down. Consequently, by the time he was at the bottom of the stairs, in the lobby, he was out of breath from running away from his aggressive girlfriend and his asthma started to give him trouble. However, to his surprise, in a flash, an inhaler appeared in front of his face, and after two puffs, ended his small attack just as quickly as it started. Penny returning the device to her purse before giving him a kiss while hugging him lightly, to avoid interfering with his breathing, then telling him she was sorry, before pinching his butt again.

Leonard's surprise was complete and he just followed his giggling girlfriend out the door in awe to how much he loved her and that she was with him. It made him so happy that before he knew it, he was smiling from ear to ear, even though his butt was a little sore, because Penny pinched hard!

Penny was happy though and she made her way to Leonard's rental car, trying hard to not actually skip the whole there because she felt so good, the day was nice, she was going to do something interesting and the best part was Leonard was with her. It didn't really surprise her that she reached the car first and when she looked back at her boyfriend following, she just smiled at him, getting a smile back from him, the kind of smile that just melted her heart. That smile stayed on her face until Leonard reached the car and then his smile faded as he opened the door and looked inside, it made her concerned. "Is something wrong?"

Leonard looked back up at her, standing outside the car, "You know I might not be able to sit in the seat after your punishment."

A little sympathetic smile formed on Penny's face now, "Oh my poor baby. If it hurts too much you lay on your stomach in the back and I will drive."

"Yeah and expose my ass for you to pinch it again, I don't think so." he quickly replied, a little bit of seriousness in his tone.

"I won't sweetie, I promise no more pinching...today." Penny said sincerely then giggled when she added "today".

Leonard gave her a suspicious look then slightly shook his head, "I think I'll take my chances with the butt pain when I sit in the seat, thank you." he then sat down in the car, exaggerating his pain of sitting down as he did it.

Penny giggle as she sat next to him and lightly punched his arm, "Faker." she told him.

"Hey, it hurts." Leonard insisted in response

Penny smiled, "Okay, I'm sorry. Tonight, when we get back, I'll rub some lotion on it and kiss it to make it better."

Leonard thought for a minute then smiled. "Okay."

Penny giggled and punched him in the arm again, "You are such a faker."

"Ouch...Now you made my arm hurt." Leonard purposely whined.

Penny laughed, he was so cute and funny when he played around like this with her, he always made her smile and laugh, she loved so much being around him. As soon as she caught her breath from laughing, she replied, "Okay, I get it, no more abusing my boyfriend today."

"Thank you, your boyfriend appreciates it." he quickly said back.

Penny chuckled then looked into his eyes, the were huge pools of warmth and love, so she just leaned over and kissed him. It had started as just a small kiss but, she quickly ended up in his lap kissing him deeply, the feelings of earlier coming back to her as she pressed herself closer to him. She forgot all else except how warm his body was, his soft kissable lips, his welcomed hands on her body and the softness of his hair as she ran her hands through it. It was with a sigh of disappointment when they finally came up for air.

"Umm...maybe we should get going to one of those dealerships." Leonard said quietly to her.

Penny nodded, "I guess we should." she quietly said back.

Leonard just nodded, but they still didn't move, Penny's arms still around Leonard's neck and her hand in his hair, while Leonard still had his arm around her waist while she remained in his lap. It was a couple minutes later when she finally got back in her seat and Leonard started to drive the car to their first destination, the whole time them both sitting in a comfortable quiet. However, even with the silence in the car, Penny's mind was fully active as one thought kept running through her mind, that thought being that she needed Leonard, she needed him more than any man she had ever been with and it really had nothing to do with sex, though that was good too. Leonard was now such a part of her life that she didn't think she could go on without him and if she ever lost him it would be like losing a part of herself. It scared her a little to be so needy to someone, but then again, she trusted Leonard and she truly felt he would never hurt her, so she thought maybe if they took another step it wouldn't be such a risk after all. That thought actually made her smile and as she turned back to look at him, she saw a smile on his face too, thinking again how much she loved him.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5 - Penny's help**

The car shopping experience, with Penny, started out with them driving to the first dealership, casually talking about everything except cars, which made Leonard feel relaxed. However, as soon as they pulled in the dealership and left the car for the showroom, that relaxed feeling Leonard was experiencing had disappeared as a couple of young salesmen swooped down to find out what Penny wanted. It was so bad that they had actually started to move Penny away from Leonard, and they were not entirely talking about cars with her. This was Leonard's dismay, men would hit on Penny, like he wasn't even there, belittling him, which made him always over think and wonder sometimes if Penny even really cared about him. Of course, he knew that was not true, which then made him hate himself for thinking like that, which only made things worse. The scene now in front of him was especially bad, ruining the great morning he had with her, and turning the present, into a time of misery for Leonard.

The two cute salesmen had Penny lightly by the arms and were leading her to a convertible on the showroom floor, it had happened so quickly Penny's mind had not caught up, she was use to guys leading her off, it had happened so many times in her life, so for the first moments she blindly followed. They were asking her about her car needs, but they were also asking her questions, like guys asked her when she went to the bars with Bernadette and Amy. It was then suddenly everything seemed wrong, she was not in a bar and these men shouldn't be acting like they were now around her; it was really bothering her about how everything seemed to be happening and how she was being treated by these men. There was also the feeling that she knew Leonard would not be happy either about what was happening, and it was then it hit her, it was like a pile of bricks had fell on her as it dawned on her, where was Leonard? Penny stopped suddenly, dead in her tracks, the salesmen so caught off guard they waked past her, she then turned her head to see Leonard following them, and the look on his face, both breaking her heart while at the same time making her mad at the two men who were leading her away from him.

Only one thought went through her mind as Penny turned immediately and walked directly to Leonard. Penny no sooner reaching him, then putting her arms around his neck and to give him a very passionate kiss, that dropped the jaws of the two salesmen. The kiss was just long enough to make anyone know that was watching that Penny was serious and when she finally stopped she just looked at Leonard and said in a voice just loud enough for the salesmen to hear, "Honey, I don't really think you will like the cars here and the sales staff seems so inadequate. Can we go someplace else?" Penny said that in her sexiest voice but her look to Leonard said she was sorry it all happened, and it was to that sorry look that Leonard nodded. Penny then grabbed on his arm and walked back out to their car with him, her head resting on his shoulder, leaving the salesmen stunned and green with envy, wishing they were Leonard.

The second dealership, was much better, because as soon as they walked in, Penny walked up to an older salesman, to ask him to help them. The man treated Penny and Leonard like they were husband and wife, which made them exchange little funny glances at each other, and he showed them several cars, a couple which were interesting to Leonard. However, the red convertible, on the showroom floor caught Penny's eye and Leonard ended up talking to the salesman mostly about it, while Penny sat in it, telling Leonard how wonderful it was. Leonard couldn't help but feel stupid, he didn't want a convertible, but seeing Penny in the car, smiling, was a sight he enjoyed, so he acted interested in a car he didn't want.

This second dealership is where Penny started to collect car brochures, of all of cars Leonard wasn't really interested in, since she didn't really understand that again she dominating what was happening. As the day progressed, Penny would continue to get brochures of all the cars, she thought were cool, each with a salesman's card stapled to the front. Leonard never said a thing, even though she was acting a little bit like Sheldon did the day before.

The third dealership, turned out to be like the first, except one salesman came over to them and tried to steer Penny away from Leonard again. However, this time Penny was now looking for that and would not be separated from Leonard and kissed him in front of the salesman again, however now Leonard knew she was doing this for his benefit, to defend his manhood, a manhood he seemed to not be able to defend on his own. They ended up leaving that dealership quickly, Leonard not really interested to look at any cars there and Penny having her brochures in her hands.

The fourth dealership they took a test drive, in a red convertible and Penny drove, Leonard just not interfering and letting her have her fun. Penny had convinced the salesman not to come with them and then drove off with Leonard for a test drive. The drive actually started out pretty nice, and Leonard started to think about maybe a convertible was not such a terribly bad idea, especially seeing how happy Penny was and how gorgeous Penny looked in it. However, soon a car full of guys pulled alongside them and started flirting with Penny to ruin it, and Leonard began to realize that all a convertible would do would be to make it easier to advertise his girlfriend to other guys. They left that dealership, shortly after returning the car from the test drive, again with Penny carrying brochures of her favorite cars.

Leonard was now a little tense, ever since they had started looking cars, he had just been feeling inadequate and he couldn't help himself from questioning, like so many times before, why Penny was even dating him. He knew was overthinking and was going to a dark place so he suggested he and Penny take a little break and get some ice cream, so he could try and settle his mind down. Consequently, they ended up sitting at a small table, eating ice cream, non-dairy for him, and talking about several small things, none of them related to cars, and it was then that Penny started to realize that Leonard was different from the happy man he was this morning. She could see the stress on his face and once she saw it, she also knew why, it was her, she was acting like she always did around people, not thinking about him, and it was hurting him. She tended to expect men to flirt with her, however the problem was they acted like Leonard wasn't there, and it hurt him, she never wanted to see Leonard hurt, much less be the cause, she loved him. She decided she needed to get her act together, she wanted to be the girlfriend he deserved, and she decided to take more control of her actions from now on.

Penny also felt she needed to do damage control immediately, she didn't want to ruin their day together. So, she looked directly at him, giving him a small smile, "Sweetie, thanks for taking me with you today, I love spending time with you." she told him softly, then leaned over a kissed him deeply, which brought the smile, she always loved, to his face.

The fifth dealership was much better, a pretty female salesperson greeted them and showed them around, more interested in Leonard than Penny. They actually got to test drive a car Leonard liked and one Penny liked, so Leonard felt they really accomplished something at this dealership. However, during the whole time with the pretty young saleswoman, she talked directly to Leonard and ignored Penny, touching his arm, when they talked, and flirting with him. Leonard could see Penny get a little distant as she was trying to control her emotions, but he was pretty sure the saleswoman's flirting was all to get him to buy a car from her. Leonard didn't want Penny to feel like he did earlier, it wasn't something you wanted someone you cared for to feel, so after a while he just took Penny's hand and held it all the time afterwards, which made the saleswoman tone down her pitch. The added benefit was that once he took Penny's hand, holding it when he talked to the saleswoman, Penny got a big smile on her face and was happier at that particular dealership the rest of the time they were there. Leonard and Penny walked back to the car, both with brochures of the cars they liked.

Penny was very much in aware of everything around her by the time they reached the sixth dealership, she was just very open with her affection for Leonard, and that was enough to ward off all love sick salesmen. Penny also found it fun to hang and kiss on Leonard in public, so she took advantage of it the rest of the afternoon, getting more and more bold as the day went on. But there was a secondary effect of her being that way, her open affection, that was fun at first, was becoming more intense for her and she was now starting to forget herself sometimes. Like slipping her tongue into his mouth when they kissed, kissing him too hard and long, and even one time, while they sat at a table, to talk with the salesman, slipping her hand off his leg to rub his crotch under the table.

Leonard was at first a little embarrassed by Penny's very open affection, but then got used to it when he saw the effect it had on driving away the advances of the salesmen. However, he did have to stop her some of the time from being too affectionate, especially when she started to rub his crotch under the table, then squeeze the resultant erection. In the end though, they did get to drive a couple cars, with the salesman, and with all this, it made their visit to the sixth dealership very productive, both Penny and Leonard left with brochures of their favorite cars.

The seventh dealership didn't have any cars Leonard liked, but he did go on a test drive in a car Penny liked, just to watch her have fun. The salesman tried to get close to Penny, but after about 5 minutes of her pawing over Leonard, he gave up completely and let them go on the test drive alone. This test drive was fun and Leonard just sat and enjoyed the ride as Penny had fun driving the car. Leonard thought Penny was having fun driving the car, but he didn't realize that her being affectionate with him in public and the excitement of driving new fast cars, was having a huge effect on her libido. No sooner that they returned from their test drive with the sports car, again the salesperson offering to talk a deal and offer Penny a brochure again when suddenly Penny froze, a sudden realization coming to her. She stared at the brochure in the salesman's hand and immediately saw in her mind the brochures Sheldon had on their coffee table, the whiteboards full of data coming back to her and how Leonard was upset about how Sheldon was acting. She had thought it had all been about her being hit on all day, but it was more, she was acting like Sheldon, steering Leonard to what she wanted, she wasn't helping him at all today. She looked at him and felt terrible, he did so much for her and when she said she would help him she just made things worse.

The salesman looked at her not moving with confusion, "Miss would like these brochures?"

Penny glanced at Leonard noticing a blank stare on his face, the kind of stare she had seen on him before when dealing with Sheldon, when he knew nothing he would do would help the situation and just gave in. Penny hated that she was the cause of that look, so she looked at the salesman and shook her head, "No thank you, I'm not really interested."

Penny felt really bad, she felt she screwed up the whole afternoon, and she wondered why Leonard even put up with her, but answered her own question quickly, he loved her. The next question both upset her and made her want to cry, as she asked herself, what had she done to show him she loved him. That answer didn't come back to her like the first question, she did love Leonard, but did he really see that love from her.

"Penny is something wrong." Leonard asked as Penny stood there quietly for a few seconds.

Penny just smiled and shook her head, then turned to the salesman. "I think I might like an SUV better, someone I know says their safer, so could we maybe take that big one over there on a test drive."

Leonard was totally surprised she had asked the salesman if they could test drive the big SUV in the lot with heavily tinted windows, the sudden thought she had turned into Sheldon briefly crossing his mind. He thought about saying something, but Penny seemed so determined again, he just let it go and 10 minutes later they were on the road, in the SUV land yacht. However, they had just gotten out of the area the dealership was in, when Penny told Leonard to pull in a large discount store parking lot, so he did, in complete confusion. Then no sooner than he parted in a parking spot, Penny crawled into the back seat and told Leonard to come back with her, as she started to unbutton her blouse.

"Penny what are you doing." Leonard was completely confused as Penny undid all her shirt buttons exposing her bar underneath.

Penny continued as she pulled her shirt off and undid her bra leaving herself naked from the waist up and sighed, "Leonard please." She just wanted to make him happy again, doing something spontaneous and erotic right now to get his mind off how badly today went. She was also very vulnerable, she wanted him very badly right now.

"Penny?" again he said confused

Penny just looked at him again and then softly repeated. "Please Leonard."

He didn't really know what was going on but her face showed a hint of desperation and she was pleading, which tugged at Leonard's heart. So, he just got in the back seat with her, their lips and bodies contacting as soon as he reached her, while Penny hands started to remove all their clothes.

When Penny and Leonard pulled the big SUV back into a parking spot at the dealership and got out, both of them had shy smiles on their faces. So, as they walked towards the salesman, Penny wrapped her arms around Leonard's arm and gave him a kiss, the look of lust still in her eyes and her cheeks still a little pink. Leonard's hair was a little messed up and he too had not completely recovered from the naughty little romp in the back of a test drive car, making his face a little pinker than normal. He didn't realize that Penny's idea of making love to him had helped his mood, he was just happy and felt a little adventurous at what they just done.

"Sir, you drove with the window's open, it is much better when you let the climate control serve your needs." the salesman said, thinking Leonard's hair was windblown and his cheeks redder because of the wind too.

"Oh honey, I told you we should have kept the windows up." Penny said, as she pulled a little brush out of her purse and started to brush Leonard's hair, a smirk on her face. Leonard stood while Penny brushed his hair slowly, as she looked into his eyes, biting her lip, her hands in his curly hair felt so good, it was turning her on again.

The salesman watched the beautiful blonde brush her boyfriend's hair, in a way that made him silently sigh and just as suddenly he felt like a voyeur watching something erotic. She was looking into eyes, and gently brushing his hair, a little smile on her face, while her other hand was in his hair messing it up again. The salesman felt a lump in his throat, this was a little too much for him, so he slowly turned and took the keys back to his desk, they would come back if they had any questions, he thought.

Penny was done car shopping and Leonard wasn't in the mood either, something else had their full attention. Leonard broke off eye contact, when he remembered the salesman, but then turned to find him gone, so he and Penny just went back to their car. Once driving back to the apartment, Penny looking at Leonard the whole time, Leonard thinking he would ask her if she wanted to eat, it had been a long afternoon. "Penny are you hungry?" he asked, while trying to keep his mind on the drive.

Penny, was now locked on, the SUV romp just an appetizer, she had been thinking about love with Leonard all day, in the back of her mind, and now she couldn't help think what she was going to do to him, when she got him in her bed. "Yes, I'm hungry and maybe we can get some food after." Penny told him, she had said it in a low sultry voice and when he turned to look at her, she ran her tongue lightly over her lips as she looked with him with bedroom eyes. Leonard drove faster.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6 - Loving each other**

Penny couldn't help but watch Leonard as they drove back to their apartment building, she just wanted to be alone with him, to be able to just love on him without anyone interrupting them. The romp in the SUV had been fun, maybe too fun, Leonard joining her in the back seat resulting in a very lustful joining, the excitement of what they were doing making them both reach satisfaction quickly as they went at each other like two bunnies in heat. But now she wanted more, she wanted to lay with him, be against him, and make love to him slowly and deliberately. Penny just wanted him and a small smile formed on her face and she watched him, she was so happy to be with him, so she leaned over and kissed his cheek softly whispering, "I love you."

Those where three words were words Leonard never tired of hearing from her, she had resisted those words for so long that her saying them freely, like now, warmed Leonard's heart. He turned his head slightly to see her, "I love you, too." and was rewarded by a big smile on her face.

Penny snuggled under Leonard's arm as they walked from the car to the apartment building doors, and kissed him as soon as they were inside away from public eyes. It was a very long kiss and she pulled him tight against her, actually rubbing herself on him as she crushed her lips against his and ran her hands through his hair. It set the tone of their whole trip up the three flights of stairs, them stopping at each landing to kiss each other again and holding each other tight. By the time they reached the fourth floor they were all over each other, their tongues in each other's mouth with each kiss now as their passion kept escalating. Leonard actually thought that Penny was going to have sex with him in the hallway, she had his belt undone before he could get the keys from his pocket and open her apartment door. Then they were pulling each other's clothes off before the lock even clicked closed on the apartment door.

Sheldon sat in 4A, watching TV, but it was being spoiled, because he began to now hear, 'Oh my God', Oh Leonard' and 'I love so much' being shouted several times from Penny's apartment, along with a couple other things, he didn't really understand or want to. It was bad enough that he needed noise cancelling headphones when they spent their nights together in Leonard's room, but it was now early evening and they were in the other apartment. He needed to curb this behavior, in the future, the inconvenience it caused him was unacceptable, so he decided that they were both getting three strikes, and that made him smile as he tried to get back into watching his TV show.

It was almost 9 PM when they finally got their pizza, and they were relaxing after three hours of ….WOW, was the only way Penny could describe it. It had happened like she hoped, them both in bed naked together while they kissed and rubbing against each other for a long time, making out until neither of them could stand it anymore and they joining in what Penny could only describe as loving. They had even stayed naked as they ate and Penny had almost choked from giggling so hard after getting a little sauce on her left nipple and asking Leonard to lick it off.

Consequently it was after 11 PM when Penny finally put some clothes on, her hello kitty shorts and very thin, almost see through, camisole, that she now wore especially for Leonard. The bathroom door opening made her quickly look towards him and suddenly it was silent, as they just stared at each other. The look on Leonard's face was adorable, she could see the love, the awe, the way he always looked at her like she was something special. It made Penny smile

and walk over to him, wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him deeply, the feeling of his warm body so close and his lips against her, always making her feel so wonderful. They spent a few minutes like that, just standing there close to each other before they realized that if they went to bed, they could be even closer, them both soon under the covers and holding each other tight. It felt so intimate to be in Leonard's arms and Penny felt like she could stay like that forever, a deep-down feeling in her soul that she was loved and was safe being held by him. Kurt had been huge compared to Leonard but she had never felt that way with him, Leonard was the only man who made her feel safe and secure.

They continued to hold, kiss and just softly talk to each other for the next hour before the comfortable feelings they were having with each other made them get very relaxed and tired, Penny curling up against Leonard, her head on his chest. Penny felt so good, Leonard's arm was holding her close and she could hear his heart beat, making everything in the world seem to be so right that night. She would have normally fell right to sleep then but for the thoughts going through her head about everything that had happened that weekend. She knew she was totally in love with Leonard, her feelings for him different and so much more real than she ever felt for anyone else, so she knew it was real love. She also knew she had crossed the line she had made for herself; she had given him her heart so she would be devastated if she ever lost him and that made losing him not even an option to her. It was time for her to take the next step, even though it was extremely scary, because the thought of losing him was much worse that any commitment issues she had. This knowledge about what she needed to do finally relaxed her and that finally let her go to sleep.

Leonard woke up when the sun entered Penny's bedroom and he looked at the clock to find it was 6 AM. Penny had not moved an inch from where she was when he fell asleep, her blonde mane covering his chest and tickling his nose every time he looked down at her. He didn't want to move but he needed to get up in a little bit and go to work, but it was not going to be easy, he didn't really want to wake her up. So that was his problem, how was he going to get up without waking her up, he just didn't know so he laid there quietly trying figure out something.

It soon became increasingly hard to think about getting up as he kept looking down at her, she was so adorable he had to control himself from chuckling, and he really didn't want to move. He loved the feel of her so close and the musky smell of her, the smell of her hair, it made it only made it much harder to get up, but finally he knew he had to go to work. However, now he still had to figure a way to wake her and he figured that the only way was to move her, so after waiting till the very last moment, he gently started to shake her. "Penny, I have to get up and go to work."

Penny slowly stirred, mumbled something that Leonard couldn't understand, then scooted closer up to him and buried her head in his neck. So, he tried again. "Penny, please I have to go to work."

Penny moved her face so her lips were now on his neck, he could feel her hot breath, then she gave him a little kiss and mumbled 'okay'. He laid there another five minutes, until he was sure she had fallen back to sleep. She was really out of it and what really surprised Leonard was she didn't have nothing to drink and she was this tired.

He looked at the clock again, it was past 6:30 AM, and he was no better off getting up then he was a half hour ago. He decided he would have to push her off gently, which he hated to do, but what choice did he have. He put his hands on both sides of her, under her armpits and started to lift her off, it did no good, her arms snaked around his neck and she pulled herself in tighter, mumbled something again, then gave him another little kiss on his neck. Again, after a couple minutes he knew she was asleep again, he was so losing this battle. There was only one thing to do, he rolled over, to roll her body off his, he thought that would work, he was wrong, she was off of him now, but she still had hold of him, her arms around his neck.

Penny groaned, "NO." and held him a little tighter, Penny was strong when she wanted to be. Leonard was so confused, he had to go to work, but as he was laying, trapped in bed, with the woman he loved, the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, after a night of the most amazing sex a man could ever want and her refusing to let him go, the thought of just staying was finally winning him over. Leonard realized if this had happened when he first met Penny, he would have quit Cal Tech for the experience to be with her, that thought making him wonder what was his problem, and he made his decision to stay. Leonard put his arms tightly around her and pulled her body tight to his, the feeling of intense happiness filling his soul. Penny's eyes opened a little, they were her bedroom eyes, they made Leonard's heart flutter, as she looked at him, a smile slowly forming on her lips.

"You're staying with me today?" her smile now spreading larger and her eyes opening a little more.

"Yes, how could I leave the bed of the most beautiful girl in the world." his smile matching hers.

"Good, today you're mine and I have the whole day off." with that she closed her eyes and snuggled back into his neck, she was content and happy, but wanted to sleep some more with her man.

They had fallen back asleep, after Leonard sent his text to work, about his taking a personal day, warm, comfortable and wrapped in each other's arms.

'Knock, Knock, Knock….Leonard'

'Knock, Knock, Knock….Leonard'

'Knock, Knock, Knock….Leonard'

The groan from Penny could even be heard by Sheldon outside the door. "I forgot about him." she stared at Leonard, not believing her bad luck.

"Yeah, me too. I need to take him." Leonard sighed.

"No, I'm not giving up." Penny rolled over and got her phone off the nightstand, and hit her speed-dial. "Bernadette, has Howard left for work…I need a big favor…..Could Howard come by and pick up Sheldon?…..It's my day off and Leonard is here in bed with me, and…you know….I owe you big time, thanks Bernadette." she hung up and smiled at Leonard. "Don't you move. Keep my spot warm." Penny got up on wobbly legs and grabbed her robe to talk to Sheldon.

Penny opened her door, to see Sheldon step back and cover his throat, finally composing himself from the shock of seeing her before 11 AM. "Leonard needs to take me to work."

"Leonard is in bed with me. Howard will be in front the apartment in 10 minutes to pick you up." She then started to close the door.

"Wait, you said I could have him back this morning. It's morning, he needs to drive me to work." Sheldon boldly went on.

"Oh that, I lied. Have a nice day. My spot is getting cold." Penny then closed the door in Sheldon's face. Penny crawled back into bed with Leonard, burying herself into him to go back to sleep, but she had one more thing to do.

Sheldon, was honestly mad, she couldn't do that, she agreed to let him have Leonard today, so he brought his hand up to knock again, until "Don't you dare, remember it's before 11 AM." come from the apartment, so Sheldon turned around to walk down the stairs, remembering how he told Leonard years before that saying hello to that woman would only bring trouble.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7 - Penny takes a ****step**** Leap!**

Penny and Leonard got out of bed just before noon, they actually woke up earlier, but spent over an hour just kissing and cuddling before they got up. Since Sheldon was at work Leonard decided to go across the hall to shower and dress, the main reason being that he didn't have any clean clothes at Penny's apartment. So, he had just gotten in the shower and started to get wet, when he heard the bathroom door open and his blonde headed girlfriend opening the shower curtain to join him. It was probably the longest shower Leonard had ever taken, and the most fun, washing Penny, which he found he really enjoyed, and her washing him, which she enjoyed almost as much as him, leading to a make out session, then shower sex.

Their time in the shower left them both clean and tired, so they ended up just sitting around the apartment for the next hour drinking coffee and eating bagels, while they regained their strength. Them both resting on the couch after eating, in only their robes, Penny snuggled into Leonard's side with his arm around her. Penny felt content and comfortable; it made her feel like it was the perfect time to talk to him about some things she had on her mind.

"Sweetie, about last night."

Leonard, again overthinking, immediately thought the worst. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No...No, Sweetie, last evening was mind-blowing, you have nothing to be worried about, I can't even begin to describe how great it was." she was relieved when she saw the tension of just a few seconds ago seem to leave his body, "Leonard the thing is that I want to tell you that I don't remember ever really experiencing feelings like I did last night, it was so great, and I don't think I have ever been so happy with someone, just laying down and falling asleep like that with them after sex, like I was with you." she looked at him to see how he was taking this information and was happy to see he was listening and looking at her seriously.

So, she went on, "To tell you the truth, I can't even think of last evening as sex, it was something more and I felt we were making love, because that was all I could think of when we were doing it." she again looked at him, he was still seriously looking at her which both made her feel good and made her nervous at the same time, so she tried to lighten the mood, "Also, I was worn out physically too, from…..you know...my stud muffin boyfriend." she giggled and smiled at him and was rewarded by a slight blush and smile from him.

"Anyway, I have been thinking, and one thing I have been wondering is if I am satisfying you? It seems the last few months, after we... make love, I am reduced to a lump of jelly, then you hold me making me just want to be cuddled by you, so I don't even know how it was for you. Are you happy with me in bed, because I can really try harder, it is just that you have to hold off a little so I can concentrate on you more."

Leonard was a little stunned "Of course, you satisfy me, Penny you are great in bed, you always get my motor running." Leonard gave her a big smile, then leaned over to kiss her, Penny's saying these words to him, made him feel extremely good inside. Every man who loves a woman, wonders if he is performing well enough to keep her, so having her basically telling him he was, was a huge boost to his confidence.

Penny had actually been a little insecure about how Leonard felt about those kinds of things, partly because of what the girls told her that night at the Cheesecake Factory bar and partly because of Alex coming after Leonard soon after that. So, she needed to know before she went on with the other thing, she needed to talk to him about, that had been on her mind. Penny now knew it was the right time, so she silently sighed to herself and continued, while she tried to keep the butterflies in her stomach under control.

"Sweetie, I have been also thinking a lot about the last couple of days." She looked at him while she chewed her lip, she was so nervous, but she really wanted this, the last few days, along with the previous months, had been some of the best of her life and she was realizing now that she didn't want that to change. She wanted Leonard to be there when she came home, as a matter of fact she now thought of home as a place her and Leonard lived, so she decided that it didn't matter if it was moving fast or not, she was determined to ask him. "I really like you being there when I come home from work, I love sleeping with you and I just basically love you being around me. Soooo…..I was wondering if you would consider, moving in with me."

Leonard was again stunned, "Are you sure this is what you want?" He immediately felt stupid, why was he over analyzing everything, why didn't he just say 'Yes'?

"I'm really sure, Honey, you are always telling me you love that I give you a place to hide from Sheldon, well, I want that place to be permanent. I have thought about this a lot the last couple of months, but this weekend just reaffirmed to me that I truly want this and I am positive about it."

Leonard wasn't going to over think any more about it, "Yes, Of course. I would love to move in with you." He smiled at her and was given a big smile back by her, but then he realized he had a question. "When?"

Penny's smile became a little coy, "Well, we can move the stuff you need over, this afternoon, after we get dressed. We may not get a lot of it moved but I'm sure we can get enough over so that you can start living over there in our home."

A very sweet smile formed on Leonard's face after she spoke, "our home?"

Penny didn't even realize she had said what she was thinking, however it wasn't the first time she had done something like that, after all she had blurted out she loved him because she knew she did even though she had been reluctant to tell him. So just like then there was no denying the truth to him, "Yes, our home, if you want it to be."

Leonard didn't try to think that one through, "I would."

Penny smiled, "Then I guess this afternoon you need to move into your new home and be my new roommate."

Leonard chuckled, "I guess I do."

Penny then gave him a very sultry look, "Remember a few years back when I told you if you moved in with me, I wouldn't be able to keep my hands off you."

Leonard's smile dropped, "Yes."

"Well, I lied, I wasn't acting, I meant it."

Leonard swallowed hard and just nodded.

Penny now gave him a wolfish smile and got into his lap, bringing her lips to his while grabbing his hand and pulling it under her robe so it was on one of his breast-friends. She wanted to celebrate their moving in together and she knew they would still have plenty of time to move after, well at least enough time, depending how long she planned to make love to her sexy boyfriend.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sheldon trudged up the stairs, more aggravated then tired, his whole trip to and from work today had been a burden for him and a big inconvenience. Having to ride with that engineer had been extremely tedious and now that he was home, he decided he was going to have a long talk with Leonard, he had violated too many rules from the roommate agreement already and Sheldon was having no more of that. Sheldon had already given him three strikes and that blonde accomplice of his now had three too, they were really going to see his wrath when they took his class again. But first had to have his talk with Leonard, he had spent most of the day putting together his speech, wasting valuable time he could have been working on physics, and Leonard was really going to be sorry he ever met that blonde troublemaker when he got done with him. Consequently, by the time he reached the fourth floor he was actually smiling, unlocking the apartment door strutting into the apartment. "Leonard!"

Silence, the apartment was completely quiet, and Sheldon figured Leonard must be hiding since he had known he had done wrong by roommate agreement, however that was not going to stop Sheldon, as he went to his roommate's door and started his three-knocking ritual. However, to his surprise no one answered, and he didn't even hear any movement inside the bedroom, the door wasn't even completely closed and just the force from his knocking had opened it a little, allowing Sheldon to just enter. He slowly walked inside Leonard's bedroom, cautious because he didn't know what was happening and was confused, then looking around the room, what he saw making his jaw drop. Sheldon was now completely baffled as he asked himself _what was going on_ as his mind tried to comprehend what he was seeing; something was seriously wrong and a chill came over him as he left the room to head over across the hall.

Sheldon's triple knocking brought the blonde troublemaker to the door, "What's up Bert, looking for Ernie?"

Sheldon stared at her confused, "No, I'm looking for Leonard."

Penny giggled, "He is very busy."

Sheldon now noticed Penny was in her robe and it appeared she wasn't wearing anything underneath it. "I need to talk to him, you seemed to have finished your coitus, so you shouldn't have any other need for him."

Penny frowned at Sheldon, his dismissal of Leonard being only a sex toy to her made her suddenly feel bad about what people were thinking about her and her feelings towards Leonard. So, with a stern voice that bordered on anger she responded, "Leonard, is not going anywhere right now." then she smiled that forced smile she had developed just for Sheldon lately, "And the coitus is definitely not finished." her smile then quickly fading as she now glared at Sheldon.

"Yes, it is, he is, I have a roommate agreement that says differently." he said with increasing frustration

She had been waiting for this, "Oh, but Leonard isn't your roommate anymore, he's mine, and he already signed my agreement." Penny told him sweetly.

Sheldon's jaw dropped for the second time in the last fifteen minutes. "No, that can't be." again, the feeling of confusion and real fear creeping up on him.

Penny smiled and held out a piece of paper to him, it only had four lines on it:

**Penny's Roommate Agreement**

**Leonard is my Roommate**

**Leonard can have Penny anytime he wants**

**Penny can have Leonard anytime she wants**

The bottom had both their signatures and was dated that day.

Sheldon just stared at the paper for a couple of seconds, then sneered, "This is not valid, Leonard has to provide me 60 days' notice."

"Didn't you see the paper on the kitchen island or the email, Bert." Penny innocently told him.

Sheldon pulled out his phone and checked his email. "Drat" then his frown turned back to a sneer. "He still isn't out for 60 days.

"No, the roommate agreement says he has to give you 60 days' notice, it doesn't say he has to live there after he gives you his notice. We checked, Bert."

"Stop calling me Bert! Leonard still has his stuff in my apartment, well except for the bedroom." He had a sinking feeling he was losing this battle and what made it worse was he was losing to a Nebraskan waitress

"Well he does have 60 days to remove it all, but he will be living with me, while he boxes it up and moves it." Penny explained. "Goodbye Sheldon."

Sheldon now panicked, "Who is going to take me to work?" Things were falling apart before his eyes and he couldn't understand why.

"Hmm, that does sound like a problem." Penny then gave him a forced sweet smile and closed the door.

Sheldon knocked loudly on the door three more times, _this was not over_ he thought, even if he didn't know how to make it not over because he could not figure anything in the roommate agreement that could help him right now. But still he stood there proud and determined until Penny opened the door holding her baseball bat. Sheldon barely remembered closing his apartment door as he ran back to his room, breathing heavily as he locked his bedroom door.

Sheldon didn't know what to do, Penny had Leonard and wouldn't even let him even see his roommate to explain why he needed come back to their apartment. It also was hard to understand why Leonard would even what to live with Penny when he could be living with him, after all being around and serving him gave Leonard's existence a purpose. No, this was a serious anomaly in Sheldon's universe and he need to do something about it fast before it got worse so it was only a few minutes later that Sheldon had Amy on the computer.

"Amy, Penny is out of control, I need you to come over and talk to her." he told his girlfriend, trying hard to keep any pleading tone out of his voice.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 - Cutting the Umbilical**

It was two hours later when Amy knocked on Penny's and now Leonard's apartment, being immediately met at the door by her blonde bestie, in her robe and holding her baseball bat. "Penny do you really think that is necessary." Amy pointed at the bat.

"Sorry Ames, but there have been a lot of pests around here lately." Penny said with a smile, immediately putting the bat to the side.

Amy sighed, "Penny, I hardly see how my boyfriend qualifies as a pest."

"Come on Amy, you know he just wants Leonard back."

"I know Penny, but Leonard has to go back sometime, why are you making things worse for him." Amy tried to reason.

"Leonard is not going back."

Amy looked at Penny confused, "What do you mean he isn't going back."

"Leonard moved in with me, didn't Sheldon tell you that?"

"No. He just called me to come over because he said you went cra..., were being difficult." Amy caught herself from saying Sheldon said crazy, she didn't want to make things worse.

It didn't work, "Yeah, he should know, he is the definition of crazy." Penny stated her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Wait, I thought that just a few months ago you were thinking of breaking up with Leonard."

Penny immediately looked guilty, then softly sighed, "I wasn't thinking clearly then, I couldn't get over him asking me to marry him, I was scared."

Penny looked back at her bedroom, then back at Amy, "Ames I almost screwed up big time then, I'm not letting that happen again."

"Alex reminded you of Priya." Amy put out there.

Penny sighed again, "Partly, but mostly Leonard and I have been doing so good and I like having him around...all the time."

Amy just nodded, "I guess I can understand but Penny you know Sheldon hates change, couldn't you and Leonard have done this slowly over several months."

Penny just shrugged, "I guess I just want him to live with me now, and anyway, I thought you would be thanking me by now."

Amy again looked confused, "Thanking you, because I like dealing with an upset Sheldon?"

"No. Thanking me because Sheldon is going to need a new roommate and name me one person in this world who would put up with him?"

Amy blinked a couple times as she stared at Penny, thinking about what she said, "Congratulations on you and Leonard moving in together, see you later bestie." Amy then turned and went to 4A. Penny smiled as she closed the door to 4B.

Amy walked in the door of 4A, to find Sheldon sitting in his spot watching an episode of Dr Who, her mind wondering if Dr Who was on TV 24-hours a day, he always seemed to be watching it. Sheldon noticed her after a second and muted the TV, "So did you set her straight?"

"Sorry Sheldon, Penny is completely crazy, there is no reasoning with her." Amy lied.

"I knew it, I told Leonard that hydrogen peroxide would destroy her brain cells and now look."

"I think you may be right Sheldon; she is too far gone; I think there is nothing we can do."

"Do you think she is holding Leonard there against his will?"

Amy wanted to chuckle, Leonard loved Penny, he was probably in heaven living with her. "I think she has him completely memorized by her charms; you know how limited his thought process is when it comes to her."

Sheldon sighed, "Yes, you are right, all Penny has to do is hint of coitus and Leonard follows her around like the energizer bunny."

Amy nodded, again trying not to laugh, "I think Leonard is lost cause Sheldon. You are just going to have to cut your losses and come up with an alternate plan to replace him."

Sheldon nodded, "Again, I think you are right Amy Farrah Fowler. Leonard is lost. I will have to advertise for a new roommate."

Amy nodded and gave him a little smile, now all she had to do was wait. "Of course, Sheldon, whatever you think is appropriate."

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Penny had quickly locked her door locks and stripped off her robe again, to join Leonard back in bed, these interruptions were seriously cutting into her Leonard cuddling time. She practically leaped back in bed with him and nuzzled back into her spot against him to continue watching the chick flick they were watching, while grabbing a potato chip from the bag he was holding. She immediately felt content and sighed as she felt him kiss the top of her head, she didn't want to get out of bed again until at least tomorrow.

"You should let me answer the door."

Penny shook her head, "I am not risking ruining this, so I am going to answer the door, until Sheldon, gets over this."

"He'll never get over this, you know. Remember his itchy brain."

"I got a baseball bat that will cure that itch for him once and for all."

"You can't and you won't hit Sheldon with a baseball bat."

"I know, but he doesn't" Penny giggled, feeling Leonard chuckle.

"What did he say this time." Leonard asked,

"Oh, that wasn't Sheldon at the door that was Amy. Sheldon sent her over to talk to me."

"Amy? This must really be getting to him if he is sending her to talk to you." Leonard said softly with a little bit of sadness. 

Penny grabbed the remote and muted the TV, then turned to look back at Leonard. "Leonard are you happy living with me." She was suddenly worried that he was having second thoughts and was wondering if Sheldon's whining was getting to him.

"Yes, of course I am." he said quickly.

"Then why do you want to go back to living with Sheldon?" she asked while looking directly at him, she didn't want to ask him that question, but they needed to both know if Sheldon was going to be a problem for them being together from now on.

"I don't, I like living here with you." Leonard defended himself.

Penny nodded, then turned back to the TV, "Good, because if you left now, I would be heartbroken." She did not like being vulnerable but she was all in now and Leonard needed to know that.

Leonard's jaw dropped, "Penny." she turned to look back at him, "I won't leave you; I really mean that, I promise."

Penny gave him a small smile, "Good. Now cuddle me because I'm feeling a little insecure right now."

Leonard put his arm around her and pulled her close, "Better now."

Penny got even closer, "Yeah better." she then looked at him, "I love you Leonard."

Leonard smiled, "I love you, too."

They then unmuted the TV and both happily watched TV snuggled very close to each other the rest of the night.

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Sheldon actually didn't see Leonard the rest of the week, he had gone to Penny's apartment twice that week and was driven off by irate Penny, he was actually wondering if Leonard was actually being held prisoner by the crazy blonde. Leonard hadn't been at work all week and although Howard and Raj had said that Leonard had taken off the week because like Sheldon, he had a lot of vacation time to use, Sheldon wasn't sure that Penny hadn't just kidnapped him. After all, Sheldon couldn't understand why Leonard would want to spend all his time with Penny when he could be hanging out with himself and taking him places. So, it wasn't till Saturday that he saw his bespectacled ex-roommate, when he caught Leonard leaving 4B carrying a box out the door.

Sheldon had been watching through the peep hole, so he quickly opened the door to confront the short man. "So, have you finally got bored with Penny's perkiness and the coitus, and finally discovered you have nothing in common with that waitress." he said very smugly. "Well if you are thinking of moving back, I assure you that things will a lot stricter than before and there will be a new roommate agreement to sign."

Leonard frowned at Sheldon, "No, Penny and I are perfectly happy."

"Then why are you moving again?" Sheldon was now confused.

Leonard smiled, "Well that is an interesting story, a funny thing happened this week, 3A became available so we rented it. It will give us plenty of space now that we are living together and it will solve the only problem we are having, which is space for all our stuff. This weekend is our moving weekend, Howard and Raj are coming over later to help with the furniture."

Sheldon looked at Leonard wide eyed, "You are not going to be living across the hall anymore?"

Leonard smiled, "Yep, Penny is pretty excited about it too." Leonard then proceeded down the stairs, leaving a stunned Sheldon in his wake.

Sheldon watched him in shock until he turned the corner and was gone, slowly turning his head to look at 4B, to find Penny glaring at him. The glare turned into the phoniest smile he had ever seen her give him as she turned and closed the door behind her. Sheldon walked back in his apartment in defeat, sitting in his spot and turning on the TV, he hoped Dr Who was on because he needed something comforting at the moment.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9 - Getting Comfortable**

Leonard actually picked his new car up later that Saturday, after he had his encounter with Sheldon, and along with Penny was leaving the dealership and heading to the coast by 6 PM that evening. To be accurate about his new vehicle, it really wasn't a car but was a small hybrid SUV, which fit all the criteria Leonard had, plus even he had to admit, that a small SUV was safer than a small economy car, though he would never admit that to Sheldon. However, since it was a hybrid it also got good gas mileage, it could hold five people and it had one of those large sunroofs that extended from above the front seats to over the back seat which made it seem a little like a convertible. He also hated to admit but his decision was as well influenced by Penny who really liked it too, her commenting that it looked rugged and outdoorsy, another significant point that actually made Leonard finally decide to purchase it. Anyway, since it met all his requirements and quite few of Penny's, which was very important to him, since they were now living together, he was happy to buy it. He even let her pick the color, which turned out had been fun to watch her get all excited as she took two days to decide what it should be, him thinking that he knew what she was going to pick, red, but entirely surprised when she picked a nice blue which he like too.

Leonard actually was feeling really great, him and Penny were doing fine as roommates and now he had a nice new car to drive around that they both liked so he decided to celebrate by taking Penny to dinner and maybe a walk on the beach later. Of course, Penny was ecstatic about the whole idea, when she found out his plans for the evening, and they happily chatted away as they drove to the coast to a restaurant right along the beach. It actually worked out perfect for Leonard because during their dinner the sun provided the most romantic sunset for the both of them while they sat looking out the window next to their table. The evening ending perfectly with the both of them walking along the beach, illuminated by the other restaurants and business making it even more romantic. Of course, the evening didn't really end there because as soon as they ended up back at their apartment Penny decided to show Leonard how much the evening really meant to her in their bedroom that night.

Looking back Leonard and Penny would probably say that the introduction of the new car into their lives would become a turning point for them, because with the revelation Penny had about moving in with Leonard while they looked for it and the times they would have after purchasing it. That time they spent just buying it had made Penny realize what Leonard meant to her which made her consider their next step, making a significant change in their relationship. This change continued the next day, as Leonard surprised Penny with a mysterious trip out into the California countryside, the new car/SUV being the perfect vehicle for such a trip. Ever since the "bug report" fiasco Leonard had tried to plan at least once a month a really nice date for Penny, so with the moving and everything else, he had set something up for the day after they picked up the car. Penny was both thrilled and intrigued about what he had planned, but she ended up squealing in pure excitement when he turned down the dirt road to the horse-riding ranch, their SUV taking the bumpy dirt road like a champ.

It had turned out to be another perfect day for them, to end a perfect weekend, and they were only half way home when Penny insisted that Leonard pull into a roadside rest area so she could use the bathroom. However, Leonard became very confused when Penny returned from the bathroom and got in the backseat of the vehicle they were in, him turning to look at her in confusion, "Did I do something wrong."

Penny smiled, she had very recently realized that the vehicle Leonard bought had another feature that she appreciated and intended to use, the windows behind the front passenger compartment were heavily tinted, so tinted that anyone standing outside would have a hard time trying to see what was happening in the back seats during the daytime. "No Sweetie, you have nothing wrong. Actually, you have been doing everything right." she continued to smile at him. "I'm actually a little lonely back here and could use some company, if you know what I mean." she them told him in her sexiest voice.

Even Leonard got what she meant, as his eyes got wide. "Here?...Now?"

Penny smiled and shrugged, "Unless you got someplace else to be or don't wanna."

Leonard thought about that for a whole nanosecond, then climbed in the backseat with Penny, her immediately rewarding him for his excellent choice by kissing him deeply. To them, that day would be the day that Leonard's car was officially christened and what officially christened meant would never be explained to Sheldon for as long as Leonard and Penny owned that car. It would also be the first of many adventures Leonard and Penny would have in the new car, again, resulting in their relationship being changed forever.

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The next few weeks, now living in apartment 3A, was not totally perfect and did take some adjusting for Leonard and Penny, moving in together and then moving into 3A had sort of scared the both of them, though they neither admitted it to each other. Although there was the usual getting use to each other's quirks, there was also that strange feeling that Penny had to overcome that she had gotten so use to calling 4B her home and making it comfortable enough to call home. So now she wasn't sure the new place would be the same though she really did want to make it a home for both of them. This would actually work out for Leonard and their relationship in the long run, since Leonard and Penny had moved into 3A at the same time, therefore Penny never once thought of throwing Leonard out when she got mad at him because in her mind it was his home as much as hers. So, any argument they had usually resulted in one of them going to their room for a short time, that short time enough to cool down and remember why they were living together.

Leonard's insecurity caused some difficulties for him during their first few weeks together, too, he would overthink things in the beginning and then worried they were moving too fast, not for him but for Penny. His worry would make him sensitive to Penny's moods and even how she talked to him, him concerned that any moment she would panic and stop the whole living together step, and then maybe even break up with him. Consequently, it was with these fears that the both of them suffered after moving their stuff into 3A, each too scared say anything each thinking that it would jinx their new relationship step.

However, concerning Penny's feelings of home, everything piece of furniture Penny owned had been moved from 4B to 3A, her actually having an apartment full of her furniture which made 3A immediately livable and familiar to her. Since it was a 2-bedroom place, like Leonard's old place, they took Leonard's bed for the second bedroom, the only other piece of furniture them taking out of 4A being the chair Leonard most always sat on, leaving everything else, especially the couch for Sheldon. Therefore, walking into 4A, it was hard to notice that Leonard moved out unless you noticed his chair missing, went to his now empty bedroom or noticed that his stuff on the shelves or around the apartment had now be replaced by Sheldon's collectables.

These furniture items almost filled the apartment so they just added a wide seated recliner to the living room, which had seating just wide enough for a small couple like her and Leonard to both sit on comfortably with both their hips touching each other, which both of them enjoyed. They also found that they even had room for a decent size table near the window, getting a counter top size, the same height as Penny's old table, so that it was easy to look out the window when they ate. It soon actually started to look like a home, with enough of each other's stuff to remind them of their old homes while making it comfortable and familiar to be their new home.

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Living together for the first whole month had actually turned out to be a surprise to both of them, the fears and concerns of what would happen slowly disappearing as they both understood it just felt right. Yes, they still had small fights, but now they were living together so they had to face their anger and that resulted in them making some kind of compromise before they went to bed. It seemed the doorway to their bedroom was a filter for all anger, and every night ended the same way, both of them wrapped into each other's arms or pressed closely together, happy and content, the most relaxed either of them had ever been in their lives. It seemed seeing each other so much more each day, by living together, had made them even closer and they now both completely enjoyed being each other's roommates.

There were also other things happened as the weeks stretched into the first and then a second month, Leonard and Penny got to know each better. Penny learned more about what Leonard did at work and worked on, becoming more interested in what he did each day at the university. Leonard, also became more supportive of Penny's attempt at an acting career and started to seriously understand how much it really meant to her, it made him want to really help her anyway he could. He started to research into castings and other possible parts in movies and TV shows for her, but like her wasn't able to find much more that she had found. He could actually empathize with her disappointment, when she would go to an audition and not get the part or would go for days without even seeing an audition to go to. However, his trying to help her also made him get an idea, so one evening, after Penny returned home after a weekday afternoon shift, he decided try and convince her to try it.

It was about 6 PM and Penny walked into the apartment and just flopped onto the recliner, kicking off her shoes and moving the lever to raise her sore feet and legs to a more comfortable position. Leonard watched her, not saying a thing, just stirring the gravy for the steak and potatoes he made as a treat for her, knowing she would be tired when she got home. It wasn't till she got settled and looked at him that he decided she was ready to talk to him. "Do you want something to soak your feet in."

Penny shook her head, "No, just having them raised up like this helps a lot." she then looked at the chair she was sitting in, "This is the best piece of furniture I ever bought." she said matter-of-factly.

Leonard nodded and smiled, she was right of course, many the day since they got the recliner, she had returned from work to flop down in it and raise her feet. She would usually just sit there for a half hour before she would then ask him to join her so she could cuddle him. "Well then just stay there and I'll feed you in a couple of minutes."

Penny's eyes then got wide, "Steak, I smell steak, please tell me we are having steak."

Leonard chuckled, "Your sense of smell is still extraordinary, yes we are having steak."

Penny frowned, "Yeah, don't remind me, I still remember when Sheldon told me I could probably sniff out explosives at the airport, like some dog."

Leonard smiled, "A very cute dog."

Penny looked at him a small obvious fake glare, "You're lucky you are feeding me steak, otherwise I might be mad at you." she then smiled, she was now comfortable at home talking with Leonard and kidding around, she had gone from being tired from work to now happy and she knew it was because of him.

"Well then I better feed you quickly." he then turned off the heat to the gravy and got a couple plates out. Leonard then opened the broiler and took out the steaks, their smell now filling up the apartment.

The smell made Penny's mouth water, she tried hard not to eat much meat, but every so often she couldn't help herself from craving steak and this was one of those moments. "That smells SOOO good, why didn't I have you move in with me earlier." she said casually.

Leonard smiled as he looked at her, she had become more relaxed and less guarded when she talked to him since they moved in together and would make little comments about him that let him know she really cared for him, more than she ever let on before. He quickly fixed their plates and took them to the living room, giving Penny's hers first as she almost snatched it from his hand, making him chuckle at how cute she was acting. "Would you like some wine with you steak." he said with a bow like a waiter, which almost made her choke as she laughed because she already had a piece of steak in her mouth."

Penny finally caught her breath after a couple of seconds, "Leonard don't do that while I'm eating." she scolded him while smiling at him, "I would like water please. I don't want to mask the taste of my steak with anything tonight."

Leonard smiled and nodded, getting them both waters, before he sat on the couch and ate with her, taking little glances at Penny as she inhaled her food, enjoying every mouth full. Leonard quietly ate, his heart full of happiness as he still couldn't believe she was his girlfriend, she loved him and that they lived together. He would make her steak every night if she wanted it, but tonight he had a different motive for feeding her, her favorite food, and making sure she was happy. So, he just ate and waited till she was finished and got that content look she always got when she was comfortable and happy.

Penny finished her last piece of steak, making sure to soak up the last gravy on her plate before putting it in her mouth and audibly sighing. She then put her plate on the coffee table next to the recliner and unbuttoned the last two buttons on her Cheesecake Factory uniform shirt to expose her belly which she then began to rub, "I'm so full." she said as she lightly rubbed her exposed belly, then she looked at Leonard, "I love you so much right now."

Leonard smiled and chuckled at her being so adorable, "I would be flattered now if I didn't know you were on an endorphin high from eating steak." he then stood up to take her plate and his to the kitchen.

Penny gave him wink, "The thing is I will still love you when my high is over." she then looked at him in the eyes, however that only lasted a second before her face turned from smiling to shock. "What are you doing!"

Leonard looked at her in surprise and then followed her eyes to his plate and his uneaten steak still on it. He had a large lunch and ate all his potato first so he couldn't finish all his meat, a third of it on his plate. "I thought you were full?" he asked her, not able to hide his amusement in his voice.

"Gimme, Gimme." was all she said as she held out her hands for his plate.

Leonard just transferred the steak to her empty plate and tried not to laugh as she scooped it up almost immediately and started cutting into the meat. He then took his plate to the sink and stood there watching her in the few short minutes she consumed his steak, too. Again, trying not to laugh as he went to get her now clean plate, again. "Did you even taste it before you swallowed." he teased her as he carried her plate back to the kitchen, only getting her sticking her tongue at him in response.

Penny then started to rub her belly again, "Now I'm really full."

Leonard chuckled, her sticking tongue out at him again as she now slipped her skirt down to her panties while she rubbed her more exposed belly more seductively to tease him. She was happy and playful now, so he thought he maybe be able to tell her his idea, and she would listen. The worse that could happen would be she would turn him down and maybe say he was being stupid, but he didn't think she would get mad, especially if he didn't press too hard like he use to before he really got to know her.

So, Leonard brought over two glasses and a bottle of wine to the coffee table between them and filled both glasses before he spoke. "Penny can we talk."

Penny smiled, but her mind was doing flips, the wine and the 'can we talk' was making her head go to dark places that she told herself Leonard would never do to her or take her. However, she was not able to keep the seriousness and worry out of her voice, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Could we talk about your acting career?" he asked.

The relief that flowed through Penny's body was very obvious to her and she slightly relaxed now as she asked, "What about my acting career?" she was now more curious about what he wanted to talk about and not as scared as before.

"I was thinking maybe you should devote more time to it." he said softly

Penny was both taken back and curious again, she really thought he was going to tell her to give up acting, so this was a surprise. However, she had been trying her best to get an acting job and he had even helped her the last few weeks, surely, he could understand she was devoting all the time she had to trying to be an actress. "Leonard how could I do more, you've seen how little work there is out there and you know I go to any audition I can." It actually was depressing to her, she had been doing this for years now with not luck, maybe she should quit, she thought.

"I know you are trying hard. I'm just thinking maybe you should go all out, pull all the stops and devote all your time to it." he now explained.

Penny smiled a sad smile, "I really don't think there is anything else to find out there Leonard, besides I also have to work."

"You could quit the Cheesecake Factory. I can support us." Leonard said cautiously.

Penny just stared at him, she couldn't believe he just offered that, it was sweet for him to offer, but she still wasn't happy he did. "Leonard I can't let you support me."

Lucky Leonard had a backup idea, "Okay maybe not quit but maybe cut your hours in half. That way you could still contribute to our home and have more time to work on your acting."

He was really sweet she thought, but, "Leonard it won't do any good, like I said before, the jobs out there are two few and taking off more time from work is not going to give me more opportunities."

"It could." Leonard now had to tell her is whole plan. "There are a lot of openings as 'Extras' we have seen and if you didn't work that much at waitressing you could do them."

Penny again just stared at him a moment before she spoke, "Leonard those jobs as Extras pay less that the Cheesecake Factory. They are not really acting either."

"I know they don't pay much, but they do pay and you will be in movies and shows and you will be working where you want to work. Isn't that better than being something you hate?"

Penny just stared at him, it made sense in a crazy way, but then she told herself it wasn't acting. "Leonard it is a sweet idea but it is not what I really want."

"I know that Penny, but it is getting you closer, it is moving towards your goal and sort of lowers that wall between what you are doing now and what you want to do with your life." Leonard sort of pleaded to her.

"I don't know." she said softly back to him.

Leonard knew he was convincing her and he had to concentrate not to smile now that she was really listening to him. "Penny it is just taking baby steps but at least those steps are in the right direction."

Penny looked at him and sighed, "I guess." she then looked at her hands, "I need to think about it Leonard."

Leonard gave her an understanding smile, "I understand."

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The next week Penny went from a 40-50-hour week to a 20-24-hour week, the only day her working a long shift being one day on the weekends, otherwise her working a couple nights during the week for only half shifts. It was also during that first week she worked one day as an extra, not making hardly any money but coming home to Leonard that night excited to tell him about all the TV stars she saw. It seemed all the TV shows were taping now and there were many extra jobs for a day or two to support these shows in different scenes. The next week her actually getting two days of extra work for a one-hour TV show, NCIS, where she was ironically a coffee waitress at coffee bar that one of the main characters visited three times in that episode.

The pay she got for those two days was horrible and it didn't pay as well as the Cheesecake Factory, however, Leonard could see that Penny was happier coming home from being an extra all day then working as a waitress, That happiness being very obvious as she told him she got to give Sean Murray a cup of coffee at his table in that scene even though she was hardly shown at all and never had a line in the show. He chuckled later that night when he heard her talking on the phone to her mother telling her the same thing, she told him, and also telling her when that episode would be on TV.

Penny soon adjusted to working only part time at the Cheesecake Factory and spending more time devoted to trying to be a full-time actress, even though getting an actual acting job eluded her, the work she did as an extra seemed to now soften the disappointment in her. This made a noticeable change in her that Leonard definitely noticed and it also created a change for Leonard that he soon learned to appreciate. Again, the new car became a factor, since soon after she started to go to Hollywood regularly Leonard insisted Penny take the SUV each day for going to Hollywood, it was a much longer drive for her than him to Cal Tech and he didn't want to worry about her. Therefore, it now meant he drove her car to Cal Tech, so as soon as he started taking Sheldon with him again to work, he noticed a very positive outcome of that decision. After their first trip to work Sheldon refused to ride with him again in Penny's death trap. This led to Sheldon taking the bus again and that lead to Sheldon finally realizing he needed a new roommate quickly to attend to his needs.

So, Sheldon's desperation to quickly find a new roommate that could also drive him around lead to Sheldon's acceleration of his roommate hunt. The problem was after only two weeks he didn't find a single qualified candidate and the people applying seemed to getting worse as the days went on. It got Sheldon frustrated and a little scared because the bus driver on the bus he rode now was threatening to ban him from the bus if he didn't stop annoying the other riders. He was desperate now and like everyone else who got desperate Sheldon had to do something extraordinary to solve his problem.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10 - Baby Steps**

Sheldon had run out of time, he hadn't found a roommate that came close to even a quarter of his requirements, so he had no other choice and decided to make the most logical decision he could render in his situation. Amy started moving her stuff into Leonard's old room the next week. It was Penny who learned the good news one day by answering her door to find a tired Amy standing there holding a box. "Hey Ames, what'ca you doing?"

"I just thought I stop by and chat with you a couple of minutes and rest before I continued moving." She then put her box just inside Penny and Leonard's apartment before completely walking in and sitting down on their couch.

"Moving? You're not moving into 4A are you?" Penny asked with both curiosity and excitement in her voice.

Amy nodded, "It seems that Sheldon won't ride in your car unless it is a matter of life and death, and he thinks riding in your car is a matter of life and death, his. He is also tired of riding the bus but people are giving him a hard time about spraying the bus seats with disinfectant before he sits. He got thrown off the bus just this past Friday."

"Wow, it is just not us that he annoys." Penny commented.

Amy gave Penny a disapproving look, "Anyway, me living with him allows me to drop him off before I go to work, so he decided that the burden of having a woman live with him was surpassed by the benefits." Amy explained, a little smile on her lips.

"Oh Amy, you shouldn't let him treat you like that, you're not a burden." Penny told her sympathetically

Amy just smiled and shook her head, "No it's okay, before he said that he told me he needs me, he never said that before, no man has told me that before."

Penny felt sorry for Amy, she was so desperate for love, so Sheldon just giving her a little scrap of affection made her day. "Well he is lucky to have you, and don't you forget it."

Amy smiled and nodded, "Thank you Bestie. Well I better get going, I want to get all my boxes in the room before Sheldon comes home, so the apartment doesn't look like, what he would call, a trash dump."

Penny nodded and walked her to back to the door, then stopped her before she left, "Hey, I have an hour before I have to get ready to leave, let me help you."

"Really, that would really be nice, thank you." Amy said in surprise.

"Hey what are friends for." Penny answered with a smile. Amy's move ended up taking less than an hour with Penny's help.

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That day Penny got home before Leonard returned from his work, confusing him because she would usually be home late when she was going to auditions or working as an extra for her acting career. He was a little concerned, so tried to make a joke of it, "So, what is new with you today, no auditions today or did you just blow it off today to watch some TV?" he asked with a smile letting her know that the TV remark was just teasing.

"No actually as soon as I showed up at the studio they were signing up for extra's for "Sharknado 9, Winged Sharks" and they actually needed extras for several days since there were a lot of beach scenes, so I just walked up, they asked me if I would wear a bikini for some of the scenes, I said yes, and now I have at least a week's work." she explained.

Leonard, his insecurities coming up again, was not happy about her having her wear a bikini around other men, however he kept that to himself and tried to be supportive. "That is good, right?"

Penny shrugged and nodded, "It is really not exactly the acting I was hoping for when I came to California, but I guess it still beats the Cheesecake Factory any day of the week."

Leonard smiled, pushing down his fear of her being hit on the whole next week, and tried to be upbeat. "Well then let's go out to eat and celebrate."

"Leonard it is just an extra job; it is not a speaking part." Penny really didn't see a reason to celebrate.

"Yeah, I know, but it is still acting, and like you said it is not being a waitress, which is what you want, right."

Penny sighed, "You're right, it is better than being a waitress so I will let you take me out to celebrate."

"Good, grab you jacket and let's go. I heard about this new steak grill that opened up near the college so we can try that out."

"I love steak!" Penny said with some enthusiasm now and a smile.

Penny quickly changed from her sweat suit to a summer dress, the fastest Leonard could remember her ever changing, and got her jacket, then walked out the door of their apartment and started down the stairs with Leonard, hand in hand. "Oh, I forgot to tell you, Amy moved in with Sheldon today." she then almost fell when Leonard stopped dead in his tracks.

Penny caught her balance then looked up at Leonard from the step below to see a confused stunned expression on his face. "Babe what is wrong?"

Leonard blinked a couple times then looked down at her, "I asked what was new and you didn't lead with Amy moved in with Sheldon!"

Penny giggled, "Yeah, your right that is pretty shocking news, sorry."

Leonard sighed, "Okay I'm not as shocked as a moment before, let's go." he then took a step down and they both continued again down the stairs, hand in hand.

"There aren't any other earth-shattering things you are keeping from me are there? Raj hasn't told you an asteroid is heading to earth to wipe out humanity, did he?" Leonard now casually asked in a teasing manner.

Penny giggled, "No, the only disturbance in the force is Sheldon letting Amy move in."

Leonard looked at her in surprise, "You know how turned on I get when you quote Star Wars."

Penny smiled at him, "Well taking me out to eat steak is a good way to get into may panties, Padawan." she said giggling again, as Leonard now seemed to be in a big hurry to go to dinner suddenly.

The steak dinner was great, Penny telling Leonard that about 10 times while he just smiled at her. That night was very balmy in California, so they ended up driving home with the windows and sunroof open just enjoying the weather. However, when they reached the apartment parking lot, Leonard shut the car off and just leaned his seat back to see the stars out of the sunroof, Penny quickly doing the same. "You know sometimes like tonight, when the smog isn't too bad, you can really see the stars." he softly said.

Penny sighed, "Yeah it is sort of pretty when you can really see them." She then looked over at Leonard, a sudden thought coming into her mind, making her feel a little sad. "I'm sorry Leonard."

Leonard looked at her confused, "I don't understand, for what?"

"Remember when you shot your laser at the moon that night." she began

"Yeah, I don't think I will ever forget that night." he sadly said.

"Well, I never told you how cool I thought that was, you were so awesome because of the things you knew and could do, I was just so impressed at what you were doing. If I didn't have Zack there, I would have stayed with you guys all night, I was so interested by what you were doing." she told him.

Leonard just looked at her for a second or two, "I had no idea, you thought like that."

Penny smiled at him, "It was one of main reasons I came back to you that night, you and your science sort of got the panties off me."

"But it was a mistake." Leonard said softly and sadly.

Penny frowned, "Making love to you was never a mistake, Honey, I just couldn't deal with the feelings afterward then, I was just trying to justify my actions to myself, I kept telling myself that what I did was right, because I was hurting you by not being able to tell you I loved you."

Leonard nodded, he was understanding Penny now more since he was living with her, so he decided not to push her for an explanation of why they didn't get back together. "Well that was then and today is different."

Penny giggled, "When did Leonard Hofstadter get so cool and broadminded?"

Leonard chuckled, "I'm more street now."

Penny giggled harder, "I love it when you get all gangster." she then left her seat and climbed in his lap, immediately grinding her crotch into his.

"Penny." Leonard gasped, "If you keep doing that, I'm going to have to change my pants."

"Well we can't have that, all those little Leonard's sacrificing themselves for nothing." She then reached down and unzippered Leonard's pants and found his very large member.

"Penny?" was all he could say as she stroked him.

It only took her a couple seconds to get him to the point she wanted, before she moved the helm of her summer dress up and pulled her panties aside to come down on him. The way they were positioned allowed Leonard to rub against all the good parts of Penny as he entered her, making her moan. "Damm Hofstadter, have you gotten bigger?" she got out before another moan escaped her as she moved up and down on him.

"Penny do you really think we should be doing this here." Leonard asked halfheartedly.

"You want me to stop?" Penny asked him just when she came down on him and squeezed herself around him.

"Noooo." was all Leonard said.

"Good, because I wasn't gonna." Penny giggled, as she continued her up and down movement.

"Oh God, Penny if you don't stop, this is going to be over quickly." Leonard got out between grunts and gasping for breath.

Penny smiled, "Go ahead Sweetie, you can make it up to me later."

"Penny, please." was all Leonard got out as he started to buck hard against Penny's downward motions, her feeling him shoot into her only a moment later.

Penny leaned slightly over, not letting him slip out, to get the inhaler from her purse. "Here you go Sweetie."

Leonard took a couple puffs, then about a minute later began to talk again. "I promise to make this up to you when we get inside."

Penny smiled, "I was hoping you say that. Now where do you have the tissues, I need to prevent us from having a mess."

Leonard and Penny didn't get to sleep until three hours later, after both of them found themselves too exhausted to move anymore from Leonard's payback.

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The next week was very quiet in 3A, Leonard worked usually into the evening because Penny was working all week late as an extra on Sharknado, the director trying to get all the beach and other scenes using the extras done in one week. It remined Penny of working the evening shift at the Cheesecake Factory because like there she would return from work a little after dark, however the big difference now was that living with Leonard meant coming home and sitting down immediately while Leonard brought her something to eat and drink while they watched a short show before going to bed. Of course, once in bed for the night, Penny would fall immediately asleep, safe, secure and warm in Leonard's arms, she was already so accustomed to Leonard being there in their home each night and depended on him to cuddle her in her sleep, it even made her wonder how she ever lived without him before.

She was actually happy when Friday rolled around, there had been a few female extras used a lot in the beach scenes and she was one of them, so she had been on set from morning to when the sun went down for each day. She wasn't special, she was just one of about 8 girls in bikinis who they had used the whole week and one or two of them had been killed off in the movie each day until except for her and one other girl, who she expected would meet their ends that day. The beautiful brunette that she was left with met her end in long scene as she got grabbed then slowly eaten by a shark as one of the main characters tried to save her. Penny was actually jealous, the girl got a lot of face time and then got to act a little as she looked terrified and screamed for her scene. So, it was a little of a disappointment for Penny, as the day ended, that all she was in was a couple beach scenes as an extra with large groups of people in scenes that would be used early in the movie.

Because of her limited use that day, Penny's work was done early that afternoon, so she put her robe on and went to the woman's changing room to get her street clothes on to go home, disappointed that her character didn't get a special scene where she got killed off. What made the disappointment a little worse was that her week as an extra was over that day too and even though it was not much of an acting job, the whole week on set performing, even as limited as she did, had been exciting to her, making her want more. So, with a sigh she entered the women's changing area and headed to her locker, her only happiness in knowing Leonard would be waiting for her when she got home.

"Miss, its Penny isn't it?" came from behind her no sooner than Penny reached her locker, a mousy brunette in street clothes and glasses, holding some papers, now coming at her.

"Yes, Penny." she said very confused at who this person was and what she wanted.

The brunette smiled, "Hi, I'm Tina, could you come to the production tent for a few minutes."

Penny was now even more confused, but she was sort of hoping they were going to ask her to come back Monday so they could kill her character off, like the others, the thought of working one more day on the movie actually something she wanted to do she realized. "I can be changed in a minute."

Tina shook her head, "Can you come as you are, they want to see you in character."

Penny was now suspicious, she had heard of actress offered parts for sexual favors and there was no way she was doing that, actually right now she couldn't imagine another man touching her except Leonard. However, there was still the chance this was all legit and she couldn't take that chance so. "Okay" was all she said.

Penny followed Tina outside and then to one of the tents they had set up on the beach, wondering why anyone wanted to talk to her and hoping it had nothing to do with her taking a shortcut in her career. She also found herself thinking about Leonard and how she would never cheat on him, even if she had to give up being an actress.

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Penny was home when Leonard returned from work that day, confusing him because all week she would usually be home late due her working on that beach movie. "So, did you get done early today?" he asked with a smile figuring that was what happened.

"Yes." Penny said with a smile and a little excitement in her voice.

Leonard was actually a little surprised, she had told him this week how they had used them more then as extras that week and even given them a set salary that week, so he was wondering why she was so happy since he thought she would be the opposite after this was her last day. "You seem in a good mood, today."

"Well now that you mention it, I'm feeling pretty good." She said in a teasing manner that she could tell was making Leonard confused.

"What's going on?" he now asked because it was getting pretty obvious that Penny had some good news to tell him.

Penny smiled widely, "Well you are looking at someone who starts her second week working on Sharknado this coming Monday."

"Really, they want you to work another week. That is very good isn't it." Leonard was getting excited for her since she seemed pretty excited.

Penny smiled and nodded, "I thought that they would kill my character off today, like how I told you they been killing off the other girls I was working with." Leonard nodded; she had told them just that. "But they didn't do that with my character this week and they called me back to work next week. Leonard I really think they are going to do a bigger scene when the sharks eat me, something that may stand out and maybe get me noticed."

"That is great, not the part about a shark eating you, even though it is all make believe and everything..." he realized he was rambling and stopped, "That is great."

"I know, I'm so excited." she smiled at him and then had an idea, "Sweetie let's do something different this weekend. I really need to do something to get control all this nervous energy I have from what happened today and what next week could mean for my career."

"Okay. What did you have in mind."? Leonard now asked cautiously.

Penny gave him a pleading look, "Honey could we go camping and on a hike this weekend."

Leonard was a little shocked, "Now? I mean this weekend!"

Penny gave him her best puppy dog look, "Please Honey, I really need to do something physical to get rid of this energy I have."

Leonard was still stunned, "You mean tonight!"

"I wish we could go now, because there is several hours of daylight left and we could be in the woods before nightfall, but we would need to get camping gear and pack." she said sadly.

'Damm you Sheldon' Leonard thought before he now spoke, "Actually, if we use catastrophic survival package one, it has everything needed to support camping out in the wilderness for one week." Leonard said with a defeated sigh.

Penny was now the one to stare at him in surprise. "You mean Sheldon had one of his emergency kits for camping for a week?' she couldn't believe it.

Leonard slowly nodded, "He put one together for two people for a week, it has a tent, air mattresses, sleeping bags, emergency food packets and other stuff to survive." Again, Leonard sighed, "It would be more than enough for a weekend.

"Oh My God! That is so great Leonard, all we need is some sneakers and clothes and we will be able to leave right now." Penny said beaming.

"Yeah, Great." Leonard responded.

Penny came up right next to him and put her arms around his neck, "Sweetie even after we get set up, I'm still going to need you to help me get rid of the rest of this nervous energy before I can sleep." she then kissed him.

Leonard just looked at her after they broke the kiss, "Okay, I guess."

Penny then smiled again, and jumped away from him, "Okay, lets hurry and pack, we are wasting daylight Hofstadter." she then was gone as she ran to the bedroom to do just that.

Leonard heavily sighed, still wondering if the whole thing was a good idea, it was not like he hadn't camped before, he had gone on that camping trip with Howard and Raj when they got stoned and missed the meteor shower, they came to see. Also, camping with Penny did sound like fun especially since she had basically promised that they would be doing it that night, to supposedly calm her down. No, the problem was that Leonard was basically and indoor cat and being outside for a weekend was not what he was made for and really did well in. He was thinking that over when he heard, "Leonard are you going to pack. We need to get going soon." from the bedroom and realized that it didn't matter what he thought, because it was obvious this weekend, he was going camping.

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They were actually at their campsite a half hour before dusk, the traffic was not bad to the National Forest camping ground and since Leonard now had an all-wheel-drive SUV, them being able to get a campsite they could drive up to. It was also nice that Sheldon's emergency pack had an easy to set up two-man tent, quick blow up mattress and battery powered lights for their camping pleasure. Leonard really appreciated how well thought out the emergency pack was put together even though he knew he was going to catch hell from Sheldon when he found out him and Penny had used it to go camping and that he would have to restock and pack it up again for emergency use again in the future. Leonard figured he would be in for a class and a serious scolding, as a minimum, for using the pack for something other than an emergency from a very upset Sheldon.

However, that would be next week or longer if he could keep his violation hidden from Sheldon longer, but for right now Penny was happy and when she was happy, he was happy. "Well I guess that is all we can do for tonight." he said to Penny as it was now dark.

Penny had just gotten the fire started and was looking at it as she threw larger branches in it to make it bigger. "I wish we had brought some marshmallows." she said sadly.

Leonard turned to the emergency food container in the pack and brought out a small bag without about 20 marshmallows. "Here you go."

"Where did you get these?" she asked in shock

"Sheldon loves campfire marshmallows, so he packed a few." Leonard just told her matter-of-factly

Penny smiled, "Goody, get a stick and let's roast them."

It was about an hour later, after all the marshmallows were gone, Leonard and Penny were just sitting on the log looking at the fire, both cuddled together since it had gotten chilly in the woods. "Thank you, Leonard, I'm really enjoying this."

Leonard rubbed her arm, he was feeling very content being with her sitting around the fire, "Yeah it isn't too bad." he then looked up, "Wow, look at the stars now."

Penny quickly looked up. "Oh My God! There must be a million more of them up there now."

"Actually, they were up there all the time, you just couldn't..." he stopped himself when he realized he was being pedantic. "Yeah, millions more." he then pointed to a group of stars. "You know what that is?"

Penny quickly answered, "The Big Dipper." then turned to Leonard and smiled, "We use to look at stars too in Nebraska, Leonard."

Leonard immediately fell stupid, "I'm sorry, I don't mean to come off as condescending, of course you probably looked at stars in Nebraska especially since you could see them so much better.

Penny giggled before trying to act offended, "Well just remember Hofstadter, just because I came from farm country, we still went to school, and we do know how to read." she could barely keep from laughing at how embarrassed he looked.

"I'm really sorry, really I mean it."

"Well, I will forgive you this once, but you will have to work for it." Penny then stood up and started to take off her clothes as she led him to their tent. It was over an hour before they finally went to sleep. Them setting up the campsite and Leonard's punishment making them both exhausted.

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Even though they finally fell asleep about midnight, Leonard was still surprised that Penny was up at dawn the next morning, the fresh air seeming to give her energy that she didn't possess on Saturday morning in their apartment. It also surprised him that right after they did their morning routines and ate some breakfast energy bars, she was ready to start their hike, her enthusiasm at a much higher level than Leonard could muster no matter how hard he tried. So, it was early on a cool crisp morning Leonard found himself following Penny on the hiking trail, thinking how this was his first hiking trip and hopefully not his last.

It seemed to Leonard that for the next two hours all they went was up and he would have quit already except for his male ego wanting to prove he could go as far as Penny and the need to show her he would do things she liked. It was actually the second reason that had more to do with him going on, she seemed so happy and he couldn't find it in himself to take away that happiness, so he found some inner strength in himself to go on. However, this last rise Penny had led him up was really taxing his resolve and as he trudged up the trail to Penny, who was waiting at the top of the ridge, it was only fixating on her that allowed him to continue on.

Penny looked down the trail at him, he was so adorable to her as he slowly followed after her, she knew he was tired, but he continued on without nearly a complaint and she loved him for it. But she knew as soon as he reached her, they could rest so she tried to encourage him on, "Come on Sweetie, you're almost here."

Leonard finally got to her and soon understood why she was so enthusiastic; they were close to the shoreline of a lake and it really looked untouched and beautiful out there. "Wow" he said suddenly forgetting how sore he was.

Penny smiled, happy at how surprised Leonard was at her destination. "We can rest here, eat lunch, and then head back." she told him, knowing he would be happy they hit the halfway point of their hike.

Leonard nodded and smiled, really happy that they were going to rest and were halfway through the hike, he had actually enjoyed the nature but was not very physically fit for this much exercise. "Okay with me." he answered with a smile.

Penny nodded, "Let's go over there on the shoreline and take a break." when Leonard nodded, she led him the sort distance to the spot she picked.

Leonard immediately sat down on a log then looked up at her, "You want to eat now?"

Penny just gave him a wicked smile, "Actually I feel like a swim."

Leonard just stared at her, "You brought a swimsuit?" he didn't see her pack anything like that and he knew he didn't.

Penny kept smiling, "No silly, why do I need a swimsuit it the middle of nowhere." Then in one swift movement Penny pulled her t-shirt and sports bra over her head and off.

Leonard just stared at his naked from the waist up girlfriend standing in the afternoon sun silhouetted against the lake, she reminded him of a goddess, the goddess Aphrodite, she just glowed with love, beauty and eternal youth. It was times like these his insecurities would pop up and he asked himself how someone so beautiful, big hearted, fun and wonderful could be with him, when she could have any man she wanted. He still couldn't answer that question to himself, but he had long ago learned to live with the notion that he was the luckiest man on earth to be with Penny.

Penny noticed Leonard just staring at her, there was something about the way Leonard looked at her that sent chills through her while making her feel pure love for him. Every man she had even met, at first, would look at her with lust and there was a little bit of lust in Leonard's eyes, but after the lust is where the difference was very evident. Where all the other men she had in her life only had those looks of lust in the beginning, that eventually diminished to looks that they just expected sex to happen, Leonard's look contained love, and a wanting of her that was more than sex, a look that had never changed since the first time they had made love together. It made Penny feel special and made her smile, it also made her want him, so she unbutton her shorts and pushed them down with her panties until she stood before him naked and exposed, "Honey will you coming swimming with me." she asked in her most seductive voice, wanting him with her, to touch and hold as she took a little swim.

Leonard of course could never deny her and took his clothes off before walking towards hers and then taking her hand so she could lead him to the water. It was cool at first but after a short time they were both swimming around and teasing each other, until they got so close that they couldn't help kissing. The kiss quickly became heated and as their bodies pressed tightly together, Penny could only smile as they broke for air, wiggling her hips against Leonard's until the sensation was too much for her was she whispered "Oh Leonard" and their lips along with their bodies pressed together again.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It was almost 3-hours later than they slowly helped each other back on with their clothes, after swimming for a little while, drying, making love, swimming, drying again and now finally getting dressed. They stopped to kiss several times while dressing and eventually, after getting fully clothed, they sat on a log a couple dozen feet from the shoreline. "Hungry?" Leonard now asked.

Penny smiled and nodded before saying, "I'm starved...you know from the swimming." she giggled.

Leonard chuckled with her, then pulled out two large green vinyl bags from his hiking backpack. "Well here is our lunch. I've had these before and they are not too bad, but I wouldn't want to eat them as a steady diet."

"What are they?" Penny asked after Leonard handed her one of the vinyl bags and she looked at it with curiosity.

"They are MRE's, Meals Ready to Eat, they are what the Army soldiers eat in the field and they are made for long term storage, so Sheldon put them in the survival kit." Leonard explained.

"So, just open them and they are ready to eat?" Penny asked while turning the bag around in her hand, still looking at it.

"Yes, just follow the instructions, also there is a way to heat them inside, too. I'm sorry about the lack of selection, there are over 20 different meals, but Sheldon only packed the ones he likes."

"He didn't pack the ones you like?" Penny asked, a little surprised and sad at Sheldon's inconsideration of her boyfriend, considering she knew Sheldon packed these survival kits for him and Leonard.

"Sheldon always felt he would out survive me so his needs came first, also if he didn't, he didn't care what I ate." Leonard then made a sad chuckle and shrug.

"Beef Ravioli in Meat Sauce" Penny read off the vinyl bag, shaking her head. "He still eats like a 4-year old." she said in disgust

Leonard shrugged, "It is really not too bad, especially if you are hungry."

Penny nodded then also shrugged, "Well, I am hungry." she then thought about their little romp again and smiled at Leonard and gave him a wink.

It was an hour later that they were back on the trail, Leonard happy in knowing the way back involved more going down than up, their fun at the lake having tired him out a little. However, following Penny as she was purposely wiggling her ass in front of him on the way down did tend to strengthen him sufficiently that he began to ignore the work involved in hiking back to their campsite.

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They didn't get back to their campsite till 5PM that afternoon, from them originally leaving an 9AM that morning, hiking 2-hours up and then 2-hours down, and making a half hour rest midway during their hike each way, then taking 3-hours at the lake, the day had basically flew by for them. However, they both were tired, when they returned to their campsite, Leonard for having exercised more outside then he had ever done in his life and Penny for not having hiked in a while, so being a little sore too. Penny was also very proud of Leonard, he had gone all the way with her today and she knew it had been hard on him, but still he did it and she knew he was doing it for her because he was not the outdoors type. It was the reason she had flirted and distracted him all the way down, partly to help him along and partly because she enjoyed flirting with him.

She couldn't help but smile at him, he look so tired but very masculine and sexy to her as he sat there in his shorts trying to relax, she also couldn't her eyes off his legs, which she thought were sexy too, since the only time she got to really see them normally was for a short time just before they went to bed. It was right about then Penny began to zone out as she began to fantasize about her boyfriend sitting just a couple yards away on the log near their fire pit. She thought about walking up to him and sitting down next to him then rubbing her hand up and down his leg until she slipped it up the opening in his shorts, her fantasy ending right there when she finally registered that Leonard was saying her name. "Ummm, Yes", being all she was able to get out as her mind came back to reality.

"Penny, are you okay? You were just staring there for a few moments, you're not feeling bad or something, are you?" He asked with real concern.

The worry in his eyes for her, make her just want to hug him and kiss him, but she also needed to answer him and she wasn't going to tell him she was daydreaming about ravishing him, "No, nothing wrong, I was just thinking what a great day this has been, Sweetie."

Leonard chuckled, "Well even though I have just gone through hell, I would be lying if I said that being out in the woods with you all day wasn't fun and that I didn't enjoy it."

Penny smiled, "Be careful what you say Hofstadter, I may use it against you when I decide I want to do this again."

"OH GOD" Leonard moaned, "Me and my big mouth." making Penny now laugh.

It was a minute later, after they both got over their laughter, that Leonard spoke again, "Well I was trying to ask you before, what do you want to do for dinner? I have some more of those Army MRE's that Sheldon packed."

Penny shook her head, "Though they were fine for lunch, I don't want to eat "Beef Ravioli in Meat Sauce" again for dinner tonight."

"I did bring a couple other choices..." Leonard began to say before he saw Penny shaking her head again and stopped.

"You know, I noticed a barbeque place about 10-miles from the park entrance when we came up here last night." Penny said to him with a smile, "I bet we could get there is less than a half hour."

Leonard looked down at himself, "Well we better clean up and change if you want to get there before 7 tonight."

"Sweetie, we can just go now, I'm sure they get a lot of campers from the park and they won't be surprised if we show up in our hiking clothes. I think I also remember there being tables outside so we could sit there." She tried to convince him, not so much that she was in a hurry, but more because she didn't want him taking those shorts off and putting long pants on again, she was finding those shorts on him to be very sexy and suddenly it dawned on her exactly what men saw when she wore short skirts. However, it also confused her, she had seen guys in shorts before but never lusted over them in those shorts, except now for Leonard.

Leonard readily agreed, "Okay, Barbeque does sound a lot better than MRE's"

It was about an hour later that the both of them were eating barbeque meats like two starving carnivores, acting like people who hadn't eaten for days, the hiking in all that fresh air making their bodies desire protein to build their aching muscles back up. Penny had been right, there were several campers there from the park, several dressed even more sloppy then them, and even then, Penny still ate outside, both for the fresh air and not to offend anyone with their sweaty body odors. The only objection Penny had to all this was when Leonard sat down at the table, it blocked her view of his bare legs and she had been finding it harder and harder not to stare at them since they returned from their afternoon.

Penny had finished a couple ribs and was now not as focused about eating anymore so she slipped her foot out of her flip-flops, that she put on before they left to eat, and lifted her leg so that her foot went right between her boyfriend's legs. Her foot immediately finding the large leg opening in Leonard's shorts that was just wide enough to slide her foot in alongside his leg as she guided it towards his crotch. It took only a couple of seconds for Penny to realize how lucky she had just got, because it was soon obvious to her that Leonard's boxers had been just as baggy as his shorts and Penny's foot was now inside both of them rubbing along his warm skin. Penny now was really concentrating as she slipped her foot in deeper, first feeling Leonard's pubic hair against her toes before they finally reached their destination, her toes touching Alvin and the chipmunks, making her actually shutter when she got to a place she had never even expected to reach.

Penny now glanced up to Leonard, immediately biting her lip so not to laugh as she stared at her boyfriend's frozen expression, his unmoving hands till having a barbeque rib in them and a shocked stare directed right at her. This had been even more than the response she had been looking for and it only encouraged her to continue her teasing of him, so she moved her toes in a little more into his pants so they were now able to rub a very awake Alvin. She couldn't help the large smile forming on her lips as Leonard's stare became more pained and he croaked out a desperate "Penny", her toes feeling his member quickly growing to use up the space of his baggy shorts.

All this fun Penny was having sexually torturing Leonard had an unforeseen impact on her though, as her toes kept moving along a excited Alvin, she began to get very aroused herself. Now she suddenly didn't want to touch Leonard with her toes anymore, she wanted a more intimate contact with him, and the outdoor table they were sitting at was definitely not the place to do what she now wanted to do with her boyfriend. The look Leonard was giving her wasn't helping at all either, he had this special look he always gave her at times like this, a combination of love and lust, which she found more and more really got her motor running. So now her desires were getting as bad as the poor man she had been torturing just moments before, "Leonard we need to go." she whispered to him in a husky sex charged voice.

It seemed to take forever, to get boxes for their left-over barbeque and to get going back to the campsite in Leonard's SUV and Penny couldn't help but start touching him as soon as they were on the road back to the campsite. It was really lucky for them that there was a seatbelt law because if not Penny would probably have been in Leonard's lap the whole way to the campsite, making the trip extremely unsafe and dangerous for both of them. However, even restrained by a seatbelt Penny was still kissing Leonard's neck and rubbing her hand on his bare upper thigh, making it extremely difficult for Leonard to concentrate on his drive back, it was a wonder they made it at all.

The combination of their campsite being a little secluded and it starting to get dark only encouraged Penny to start shedding her clothes, and disrobing Leonard as soon as they got close to the campsite. Leonard barely got the SUV into park before Penny unlatched her seatbelt, swung herself into Leonard's lap pushing his T-shirt over his head so she could press her already naked chest against his now naked chest. It must have been the country air or Leonard in shorts that was fueling her desire she very briefly thought before she continued her ravishing of her boyfriend with a want and need, she never remembered ever feeling before.

They had only boxer and panties on when they left the SUV for the tent and Penny had those off before they even lied down, her immediately putting Leonard on his back so she could control what was going to happen next. She was already far beyond foreplay and Leonard was below her already naked, Alvin at attention, so Penny knew what she immediately wanted, bringing herself over and down on her Leonard, her need to have him in her almost like her need for air itself. It was again very fortunate their campsite wasn't very close to any others because Penny became very vocal before they were done almost two hours later, neither one of them hardly able to move, Leonard needing his inhaler twice before they collapsed into a deep sleep against each other, that night.

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The pounding of the rain and flopping around of the tent in the wind finally woke Leonard and Penny from their sex driven sleep, them naturally clinging to each other's nude bodies for comfort and protection. The tents bottom was being kept securely against the ground by the stakes Leonard and Penny had driven deep into it but the two vertical poles, that held up the top of the tent, could not hold up to the wind and rain that was now pounding down at them and had quickly failed, leaving the tent above the ground line to flap around in the storm. There was nothing Leonard and Penny could do and holding each other closely they knew the whole situation they were now facing was hopeless.

"The back seats in the SUV fold down, we could bring the mattress and blankets in there and sleep." Leonard now suggested.

"Anything is better than here, if this storm gets any worse, we are going to find ourselves in OZ without a ruby slipper between us." Penny added.

"We are really going to get wet going from what is left of the tent to the SUV." Leonard now added.

Penny ran her hand along Leonard's naked chest and giggled. "I don't think we have to worry about our clothes getting wet and I know I'm drip-dry."

Leonard chuckled at her wit, "You're definitely right, let's just try to keep the bedding dry."

It was about fifteen minutes later a very wet and still naked Leonard and Penny were spreading their mattress and bedding in the back of Leonard's SUV, the back seat now down and the area it created large enough for the two of them. Leonard then pulling two towels the he had stuck in the bedding so they could dry themselves before getting back under the covers. Even with the SUV swaying slightly in the wind, the security it offered did not go unnoticed by Leonard and Penny as they snuggled back together under the covers to go back to sleep.

Penny backed herself against Leonard as he spooned her, the gentle swaying of the SUV and sound of the rain against it, making her feel secure and actually tired again, not how she had felt just 20 minutes before. "Well at least we got a shower."

Leonard chuckled, "Yeah, that is one way to get one, but I think I prefer the old way."

"True dat." Penny responded with a giggle then a big yawn.

"Well at least I got to have sex and sleep in the forest with a gangster babe, so the night is not a total bust." Leonard said with a chuckle.

Penny pushed herself deeper into his arms. "True Dat." then immediately fell asleep.

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The next morning it was the sun coming up just high enough to shine in the SUV windows that woke Leonard and Penny up, them both rolling the opposite way so the sun was not in their faces as they continued to lay there with their eyes closed. Penny was especially tired, the night be fore's escapades having been so intense to have worn her out, plus waking up in the arms of the man you shared that intensity with and knowing how deeply he cared for you make Penny not want to move from her spot. Waking up next to Leonard now seemed so natural to her, it was a feeling that she once was so scared of but now she knew if he wasn't there it wouldn't seem right anymore, so she just continued to lay there, warmed by the body of the man she knew actually loved her and she loved so much

It was another hour before they both were awake enough to greet the world and it was Leonard who said the first words. "You awake?"

"Yeah, what time is it?" Penny responded softly, not moving or opening her eyes.

She felt more than heard Leonard's short chuckle, "I have no idea."

Penny now smiled, "I'm just wondering what part of day it is." she clarified.

"I'm pretty sure it is morning, since I still feel the sun on my back so it is not high up enough to be afternoon." Leonard told her.

"Then there is really no hurry to get up." Penny reasoned as she then scooted herself closer to Leonard, who instinctively pulled her against him. It was another hour before either of them said another word.

It was Penny who spoke the next time, "Leonard did you hear that?"

"Yeah, it must be some animal getting into our stuff. The wind probably blew some things around last night." He told her.

"Crap, they are probably tearing up all my cute stuff, I wish we would have brought some clothes with us last night when we left the tent." Penny now sat up and tried to look out the steamed windows that were covered with condensation from all the moisture in the air and the air temperature going from cold that night to now heating up again.

"Our clothes from last night are still up front, we only had our underpants on when we left for the tent last night." Leonard reminded her.

Penny giggled, "I forgot about that, good for me." She then moved into the front passenger seat to get dressed while throwing Leonard's clothes back to him. It didn't take her long to get her shorts, top and sandals on so she was out the door before Leonard had his shorts pulled up, her very determined rush to make sure no racoon would tear up her other outdoors clothes that she had brought and had paid for with her own money. So, she was outside and all the way to the end of the SUV, heading towards the tent, before she finally saw the animal that was rummaging through their little camp, it was also the same time it saw her.

Penny froze, she had never seen a bear that big outside a zoo and this bear didn't have any bars between him and her to protect her. What made things worse was that it was looking right at her and then things got even worse, it started to slowly walk towards her, terrifying Penny beyond belief. Her mind was racing now trying to remember if she should run, how fast were bears and questioning if maybe she should just stay still, something her body and mind were both against right now. She would always wonder which option she would have selected, because as her mind tried to decide the rear tailgate of the SUV popped open and two arms grabbed her and pulled her in before the same tailgate slammed shut.

Penny looked wide eyed at her boyfriend, his face covered in concern for her, before he just pulled her close to him as she started crying, not remembering a time before when she had been so scared being outside. They held each other tightly for a few seconds before Penny forcibly pushed herself off of Leonard and pointed towards one of the windows. "Leonard he is just outside looking in." she said in a shaky voice.

Leonard looked at where she was pointing then put his hand on her back to rub circles and try to comfort her, "The glass is heavily tinted in the back so all he can maybe see is shadows, so if we don't move he won't really know we are here."

"Really?" Penny asked with a still shaky voice.

Leonard nodded, "That is the way it should work, their minds can't reason like ours so he shouldn't rationalize that you suddenly going missing means you are in the SUV and since he can't really see you, he should go away."

They stayed reasonably motionless until the bear got bored and went back to rummaging through their campsite, then Leonard got carefully into the front seat, started the SUV and drove off, much to Penny's relief. It was about 2-hours later when they returned with two park rangers, one with a tranquilizer gun and the other with a bear rifle, to pick up the remains of their camp so they could go home. So, it was a little later in the afternoon when Leonard and Penny were back on their way to Pasadena, from their adventure that was fun and much more exciting than they had wanted.

The first hour of their trip was quiet, Penny finally seeming to get comfortable in the passenger seat, leaning back in her seat with her bare feet, one on the dash and the other outside the open window as she positioned herself in a way that would allow her to keep her seatbelt on. Leonard thought she looked so cute when she rode like this, it was her being her, the young free-spirited woman that took each day as it came and lived her life like she wanted. The knowing that she wanted him in that life made him smile and still made him amazed that someone like Penny could profess her love for him.

So, it surprised him in his thoughts when she suddenly began to speak. "Thank you, Leonard."

"Thank you for what?" he asked confused by her words out of the blue.

"You saved me." she answered.

Leonard was still confused, "I don't understand, saved you from what."

Penny sighed, "Everything."

Leonard looked at her confused, her suddenly turning so serious surprised him, he expected them to just joke about the bear, not get serious about what had happened. "Penny if this is about the bear, it wasn't a big deal, you could have gotten around the SUV and into the opposite door in plenty of time to get away. I just actually got a little scared and grabbed you."

Penny looked at him and smiled, he was always like that, he depreciated all he did for her, other guys would be bragging if they ever did anything for her, like what had happened this morning. "No. Leonard it is just not the bear. You have always been there for me, even when it hurt you to be there." she said the last part very quietly as she remembered how many times, she probably hurt him.

Leonard sighed, "It's okay, you are my friend." he said softly.

Penny nodded as she looked at him, he was her best friend but he was also so much more and Penny started to get a little scared, this time not about their relationship moving ahead or moving too fast but how she would go on without Leonard if she lost him. Their moving in together had been so much better than she ever imagined and she loved going to sleep with Leonard every night, plus her morning seemed brighter with him around and sitting drinking coffee with him each morning was now the way she loved to start out her day. She knew she didn't want anyone else and that alone made her think about the future with him because if she was honest with herself, she was beginning to believe there was no future she really wanted without him.

"Leonard, I have been and always shall be your friend." Penny said to him while looking at him in the driver's seat.

Leonard looked over at her in surprise, "That is what Spock said to Kirk before he died!"

Penny nodded, "I know, I am just as serious about it too."

Leonard just looked at her and blinked, not knowing how to respond.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Leonard got up with Penny on Monday morning, a little amazed how awake and energetic she was at 4 AM in the morning even though they were fast asleep before 10 PM the night before. She then quickly took a shower and got ready, having a bagel with coffee for a couple minutes with him, before she took a coffee full travel cup from him to leave for work, her rushing around that early based on her need to get to the beach before daylight and the beginning of the day's filming. Leonard expected her to just rush out the door as he opened it for her but she stopped, took the handle from him and closed it, then wrapped her arms around his neck and brought her lips to his. The kiss quickly deepened and as Penny's lips crushed against his he heard a soft moan come from deep down inside her as she pressed her body against his. He didn't know how long the kiss lasted but when their lips finally broke contact they were both breathless and he could see Penny's eyes were so dilated with desire that they were almost black and she was biting her lip like whenever she became coy with him.

They just stood there in each other's arms for several seconds saying nothing, their eyes just locked on each other and Leonard suddenly began to wonder if she was now actually planning to leave, "Penny don't you need to leave?" he finally asked, though reluctantly.

Penny sighed, "Yeah, I guess." but she still didn't do a thing to remove her arms from around his neck.

Things were now getting difficult, because for some reason she didn't seem to want to leave and to be honest he didn't want her to leave, he would have loved to just spend the day with her, but he knew today was important for her and she needed to go. So, he decided he needed to be the one that was strong because he wanted her to be happy and he knew going to work today would make her happy even if right now she didn't want to leave. "Honey, I'd gladly stay here all day with you, but you have to get going, you know you do."

Penny put her head on Leonard's shoulder and sighed, "I know." she then sighed again, "I love you Leonard."

Leonard squeezed her closer to him, she said those words so freely to him now but each time she did it still made him feel all warm and happy inside. "I love you too, and because I love you, I want to see you happy, so you need to leave and go do what you love to do and be happy." He then took his arms from around her, "Penny you need to leave and go have fun, enjoy your day and be happy."

Penny took her arms from around his neck and backed away a step, staring at him the whole time. "How did I get so lucky to find you." She then leaned in to kiss him softly on the lips, then leaned back, sighed and dropped her shoulders in acceptance that she had to leave. She then reached back and re-opened the door, stopping before she was fully through it to look at him again. "I love you."

Leonard could see a single tear roll down her cheek, which really surprised him that she was being emotional, so he just reached up to wipe it while smiling at her. "I love you, too. Drive carefully and enjoy yourself, okay."

Penny smiled and nodded, quickly giving him another kiss before slowly walking to the stairs, looking back at him the whole way. Leonard just stood there in the doorway watching her, remaining there until he could not hear her footsteps anymore going down the stairs, happy to know she was driving the new SUV to work so at least to that extent he knew she would be safe. He then slowly closed the door to their apartment and walked to his chair to sit down to think about what just happened, his mind now too awake to ever go back to sleep again that morning.

It seemed that there had been a change in their relationship over the last 24-hours, a change for only the good as he could tell now by how things were between them and how Penny was acting, like this morning. The talk they had coming back from camping had surprised Leonard, especially how open Penny was about her past feelings for him, he was actually a little shocked that Penny admitted how early she had feelings for him and how they had happened after only knowing him a few weeks after they first met. It allowed him to understood her better, how she was scared because she had never felt towards another guy how she felt for him and how serious it felt to her when they were dating and discussions on their futures came up, there had never been any other man that had made her feel this way, never Kurt or even Mike. Then she told him how it killed her to watch him with Priya, even though she was happy he was happy, she still knew she was to blame for them being together and how it was her own insecurity and stupidity that made it that she had probably lost him forever. She couldn't even have a serious relationship with anyone during that time, her emotions and thoughts still all centered around him, it was why she went out with someone like Zack, he was just a non-threatening guy who she could never see herself getting serious with. It was like she was cleansing her soul while telling him her inner feelings on the drive home and that evening after they had dinner they had the most poignant love making he had ever experienced, Penny actually crying on his shoulder after they were done, telling him over and over how much she loved him. Leonard had never tried to get his hopes up when it came to relationships with women and with the rollercoaster ride that was his past relationship with Penny he tried to just appreciate what he had, but now he couldn't help but hope that they had just made a move forward that would lead to them actually maybe being together forever.

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Penny came home late that Monday, calling him just as she left her filming location, giving him a good hour head start to get some food put together for them when she finally got to the apartment. He was glad that she was coming home after the rush hour traffic but still disappointed that they would have only a short time to eat, relax and watch some TV before they had to go to bed. Though he was a little excited about her day and wanted to hear all about it, thinking that she would be excited too, since she was working another week on the movie. However, he was a little surprised when she came home and just dropped down onto the couch, not giving him a greeting or even stating how hungry she was, like she usually did every time she came home from working.

"Is something wrong, Penny? Did you have any problems today?" he asked cautiously, not having any idea what was causing her mood.

"No, but something weird happened today, Leonard." she was talking quietly and without emotion which worried Leonard.

It worried him enough that he went over to her and wrapped her in his arms, her responding immediately by molding her body to him and hugging him tight, which only worried him more. "What happened Penny?"

"Leonard, when I got there today and after I changed into my bikini, they called me back to see the director and one of the assistant producers." she told him in a matter-of-fact tone.

"I don't really know if that is good or bad, Honey, maybe if you could tell me more?" Leonard asked

Penny slowly nodded while her head was still on his shoulder, squeezing him a little tighter, "They had me read a couple scenes, then they brought in one of the main characters and had me read those same scenes with him."

Leonard was now even more confused, "I guess I still don't know what that means."

Penny nodded again. "I did those scenes, then just stood there in my bikini while they talked."

Leonard now got worried, "They didn't ask you to do anything you were uncomfortable with, did they?" he was worried that maybe they asked to take off her bikini or something like that.

Penny shook her head, "I actually thought that it might be one of those casting couch things myself when they called me back there." Penny now took her head off his shoulder to look at him, "Honey, you don't have to worry, I would never do something like that for a job, no man gets to touch me but you." she now took a deep breath, "Leonard, they then told me why they asked me to come back Monday, they said they wanted to use me in a few more scenes, they are actually giving me some lines and a speaking part in the movie."

Leonard pushed her slightly back to look more fully at her, "Oh my God, that is good, isn't it! This is what you wanted, right?"

Penny nodded as tears dripped down her cheeks, "I did, but now I'm so scared."

"But this is what you hoped for?" Leonard tried to reassure her.

Penny nodded, but tears still came down her cheeks. "I know, but Leonard what if this is my big break and I blow it. What if it turns out like that NDSS, NCSD, whatever thing again."

"Penny they asked you to come back, this has to be better, right?" Leonard again tried to make her feel better.

"Yes." was all Penny got out before she pulled herself close again to Leonard and started sobbing.

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It took several minutes to get Penny calmed down, then another few minutes to convince her she really needed to eat dinner, her being too stressed out to even consider eating unless being pushed by Leonard. Even then when they sat down at the table, she just picked at her food quietly, to Leonard she seemed so lost and scared, he had never seen her like this before, so vulnerable and unable to deal with something. He knew he had to help her, he had to do something so when she left the next morning, she would feel better, so he decided he needed to help her talk everything out.

"So, after they told you about doing a speaking part, what did you do the rest of the day?" he thought if he just got her to talk about the mundane parts of the day she would relax.

Penny looked up at him and stared for a second before speaking, it made Leonard feel like he had just pulled her out of a place where she had been lost in her thoughts. "They wanted me and one of the main characters to read a couple of short scenes together so they gave us a couple pages of rewritten script to read."

Leonard was surprised, if she was this upset now, she must have been close to a basket case earlier today, "Did that go okay?" he asked cautiously.

Penny's face again looked like she was going to cry again as she spoke, "Leonard, I was terrified, I almost threw up."

_'Oh God' _Leonard thought, but again cautiously asked, "What happened?"

Penny sighed loudly, "The scene they gave us was about the main character and me saying something to each other in the middle of the major shark attack, so we were supposed to be both scared. I was so scared already that they thought my reading was just fine." she then just shook her head, obviously not really happy about how everything turned out.

Leonard knew he needed to keep her talking or she would withdraw into herself again, "So, what happened after that?"

Penny looked directly at him again, "They told me they needed to film a couple follow-up scenes with me since I now had a bigger part so I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon filming short scenes."

"Really, what kind of scenes?" Leonard was now curious

"So, like there was a scene we did last week where all the sharks attack the beach and everyone runs. Well in that scene there is a couple of seconds of all the girls, that I worked with last week, running away together because we are all supposed to be pretty stuck-up cheerleaders and that is why we all die in the movie. The scene they added is a close up shot of me stopping for a second to look back before running again, they said since I will be a more prominent character in the movie, they need to see me more." Penny then gave another sigh but then looked down at her food and speared a noodle and piece of chicken with her fork and put them into her mouth.

Leonard watched her, she seemed to be relaxing more and more as she talked, she even had started to eat her food which he thought was a good sign. It wasn't a really fancy dinner he made, just some chicken alfredo using a jar of sauce over some boiled noodles with some already cooked chicken that he heated and thrown in, but unlike Penny he tended not to burn things and she liked his cooking. So, when he saw her put a second fork full of food in her mouth, he knew he needed to keep her talking so she could relax and continue eating.

"So, they did all these scenes with just you in them.?" he asked

"No, not all of them. Remember that pretty brunette I told you they killed off last on Friday?" Leonard nodded so Penny continued, "Well they brought her back this week, too, and a couple of those scenes had her in them. Also, tomorrow we are going to reshoot the scene where she gets eaten and that is the first scene that I will be in that I actually act. I'm supposed to try and save her because she is my last alive friend."

"Do you save her?" Leonard prodded her on.

"The script pages they gave me say I only save her arm, gross huh." Penny gave a small sad chuckle at the end.

Leonard watched as she put another fork full of food into her mouth, she was absently eating now that she was talking which made him feel better about her relaxing more. "Do you and the other girl work okay together, is she okay with you getting more acting?"

Penny shrugged and seemed to think for a minute while she chewed another fork full of food, "I think she is probably jealous that I'm getting more work than her, I know if it was reversed, I would be jealous, but on the other hand she is getting a more dramatic scene to do with more lines, so she has to be happy with that, I would be."

Leonard nodded, Penny was now speaking more normally to him and eating up all her food, "So if you have script pages do you want me to help you read them after dinner?"

Penny looked down at her plate, seeming to just have noticed she had been eating, before looking back up at him, a tiny bit of surprise on her face. "Yes, if you don't mind, I really need to learn my lines before tomorrow."

Leonard smiled, "No problem, getting to eat dinner and then spend the evening with a movie star is every guys dream." he then chuckled.

Penny now actually smiled before she swatted his arm, "Stop." she said before giggling.

Penny actually finished her dinner and after they quickly cleaned up, Leonard then went to the couch with a glass of wine for each of them while Penny got her bag to retrieve the script pages she was given before she left work. They spent the couple hours just sitting together going over Penny's script, nursing their wine, and just getting Penny comfortable with her lines in the script. So, it was just passed 9:30 PM when they both stretched and began to feel really tired due to it being the time, they normally had been going to bed over the last two weeks.

Their getting ready for bed was pretty normal and their banter while getting ready seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary, so when they got into bed Leonard felt pretty confident that he had succeeded in calming Penny down enough and restoring some of her confidence to help her for the next day. However, that feeling was soon forgotten as soon as they pulled the covers over them, Leonard tried to spoon Penny only to have her turn in his arms and clamp on to him tightly, pulling herself as close to him as humanly possible. They were now both on their sides facing each other and Penny had the whole front of her body pressed against the whole front of his body, normally a position they would be in when they made love, however Leonard knew this had more to do with Penny seeking some kind of comfort so without hesitation he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed her tightly to him.

They fell asleep that way, neither of them consciously letting go of each other, and when Leonard woke up the next morning, he found himself on his back, holding Penny, while over half of her body was on top of his, her head tucked in next to his neck. He couldn't help feeling good waking up this way, Penny being in his arms each morning was one of the most wonderful things in his life and he still couldn't get over the fact that she chose him to hold her each night and wake up with each morning. He laid there for several more minutes before he resigned himself that Penny needed to get up before she was going to be late for work so he started to rub her back and a couple moments later he felt her adjust herself on him and let out a small content sound.

"You keep doing that and I'm going back to sleep." she whispered.

"Well we don't want you to do that." Leonard stopped rubbing her back and lowered his hand down her back to the cheek of her ass, where he gave it an affectionate gentle squeeze.

"You keep doing that and we'll never get out of bed." she then whispered to him.

Leonard softly chuckled, "Okay, I get the point, keep my hands to myself." then seriously, "You probably really need to get up now so you are not late."

Penny sighed, "I know, I guess I have to go back to the salt mines today."

"Somehow, equating the beach to salt mines doesn't really doesn't really work." he told her with a chuckle.

"You're not seeing it from my point of view, I'm leaving my nice warm bed with my cuddly boyfriend in it, which I could sleep longer in and then have amazing sex, to go to work in front of cameras all day trying to act like sharks are going to eat me." she explained.

"Doing work, you love doing, you forgot to add." Leonard said with a chuckle.

"Did you not hear the part about the cuddly boyfriend, Hofstadter, and the sex." she now admonished him with a trace of a giggle.

"There are somethings more important than cuddly boyfriends and sex." he tried to say seriously back to her.

Penny now lifted herself up so she could stare at him, "Who are you and what did you do to my boyfriend, you completely contradict everything I have learned about men." she said with fake shock.

Leonard smiled, "Someone who loves you." he told her softly.

Penny's face suddenly turned serious as she leaned down to kiss him, her kisses becoming more passionate with each second, it taking every ounce of Leonard's will power to actually be the one to end them so she could get ready for work. Even then, after Penny got up from the bed, she stripped off all her night clothes as soon as she stood up, making a point to wiggle her ass all the way around the bed to the bathroom for his benefit alone. Leonard just shook his head in amazement after the bathroom door closed and he heard the shower start, he still had trouble believing he could be so lucky to find someone so perfect for him like Penny and that she felt the same way about him.

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The next couple of days were very much the same in 3A, Leonard worked each day a little later because Penny was working all week late on Sharknado, the director trying to get all the additional scenes using Penny done in one week. It remined Penny of working the evening shift at the Cheesecake Factory because like there she would return from work in the evening, however unlike being a single waitress previously and now living with Leonard, coming home meant sitting down immediately while Leonard brought her something to eat and drink then working on her lines with him for the next day before going to bed. Of course, once in bed with Leonard, Penny would fall immediately asleep, safe, secure and warm in his arms, she was already so accustomed to Leonard being there in their home and now depended on him to cuddle her in her sleep, she had gotten to a point in her life where she really didn't know how she ever lived without him before. It didn't really matter if they had sex or not anymore either because they both enjoyed just being with each other and holding each other, it made them both extremely happy just to have each other close.

So, it was Thursday night that things sort of changed, Penny not really coming home in the same happy mood she did for the last two days, but seeming quieter and more thoughtful. Leonard noticed immediately; the last two nights she would come home tired but with a glow about her that let him know she was happy working as an actual actor on the movie. This was her big chance to show on major media that she could act, and it would be seen on TV by millions, so she had really begun to enjoy it, after he had helped her get over the terror of the first day. But today seemed different, obviously Penny had something going on in her mind as she came home and Leonard was wondering how long it would be before she told him.

"So how was your day?" he causally asked, really quite curious about what she was thinking about.

"Okay, I guess." she flatly responded

"I guess?" he asked her

Penny just stared at him for a moment, then sighed, "Leonard, we need to talk."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Leonard was taken back at her response, the words 'Leonard, we need to talk' always seemed to mean something bad was going to happen when a girl said that to him, even Penny. He struggled hard to reassure himself that Penny was not going to tell him something bad, after all things had been going extremely well with them all week, Penny actually seemed closer emotionally to him then he could ever remember. The past week they had been happy, been super affectionate to each other, and Penny had clung to him every day when they were together, so he tried to tell himself he shouldn't worry. However, the years of disappointment with women and some difficult times he had with Penny in the past made it difficult for him to not be worried, even scared, about what she was now going to say, his mind instantly going to a bad place even though its logical side tried to tell him not to worry.

Of course, with his mind going over to the dark side, Leonard quickly began to overthink and had immediately reasoned they had gone too fast, the sudden change over the last week with Penny now catching up with her, making her commitment issues take front and center in her mind again. That thinking took his mind deeper into its dark place and made him figure he knew what she would want to talk about, slowing down their relationship and even moving back to their old situation where they lived in separate apartments again. His heart now sank and he just walked over to the couch like a dead man walked to the gallows, sitting down and just looking at her, waiting for her to tell him the words that he just knew would destroy all the happiness he had been experiencing since they moved in together.

Penny had immediately sat down on the couch, as soon as she asked him to talk, so she had watched Leonard as he came over and sat down near her, watched as the smile he had when he greeted her vanished from his face and a more resigned look came across his features. It suddenly dawned on Penny that he thought something bad was going to happen and although what she had to say wasn't good it really made her feel bad to know his sudden change and feelings where being caused by her. She now realized she should have used another way of telling him and probably another phrase to open up their discussion but she honestly didn't know how to do this any differently and to her defense she had been upset even thinking about it ever since she had gotten tomorrow's script.

Penny knew she needed to start their conversation and do it quickly, the expression on Leonard's face was going to make her cry at any moment and then it would be almost impossible to tell him anything. "Leonard." she softly started, waiting till he looked directly at her and responded 'Yes'.

"Leonard remember when I told you they were going to have me do more scenes in the movie?" she began.

"Yes, I remember." Leonard responded, a little confused why the conversation was starting out this way.

"Well, I thought that maybe they liked me and that brunette girl's acting, presence or something so they were using us more in the movie." She stopped and watched as Leonard nodded before speaking again.

"I told you what we did the last couple of days, those added scenes with the brunette and me, Monday and Tuesday, and by the way her name is Ashley." She waited for Leonard to nod, then began again, "Then yesterday after I got home, I told you about those extended scenes with the main characters, Ashely and my encounters, and then my singular encounters, after Ashely was eaten." she then waited and watched Leonard.

"Yes, I remember." Leonard was now even more confused than before as he had no idea where she was leading, but his mind being in a dark place now could only assume the worse.

Penny nodded, thinking that now came the hard part, "Well, I was a little wrong why they wanted us, me, to do more on the movie and today, before we started filming, I was given a new update of the script and found out what was really happening. I guess I should have seen something before, but I was too excited about everything that was happening and the actual acting I was getting to perform and what it could do for my career."

Leonard now looked at her with curiosity and more than a little dread, "What was in the new script?"

"Let me explain." she said quietly, waiting for Leonard to just nod and when he did, she continued. "I told you the names of the celebrities on this movie, but I know you really don't know them and don't know how popular they are." She watched as Leonard nodded again. "Well the biggest name is the woman who plays opposite the main male character, she is actually a much bigger celebrity than him, and mostly does movies for the big screen, not any of these made for TV movies, especially Shark movies for the SYFY channel."

Leonard still had no idea where she was going with all this, he still was waiting for the big bomb from her, but at least the words 'break up' hadn't been said yet, so he quietly continued listening, only acknowledging her explanation when required. "Okay."

"Well since I have been working around the main characters the last couple days, I've heard some things, it seems this actress's last couple movies lost money and she is considered a Diva in Hollywood so work hasn't been coming her way. That is why she is doing this movie, and that is why she had been a real bitch to work with on the set, I've heard, she thinks the whole thing is beneath her. Anyway, I heard the scenes with her and the male lead are terrible and she has absolutely no chemistry with him, so today I found out how they plan to fix that, I'm sort of replacing her." Penny sighed and watched for Leonard's reaction.

"You're taking over the female lead for the movie!" Leonard was a little shocked, this was the last thing he expected her to tell him and it sure beat her telling him she wanted to slow down their relationship. "That's great, isn't it?"

"It's not exactly like that. They paid too much money for her to do this movie, to just drop her, so what they are doing is first having my encounters with the main characters be longer, with my character having more action and background in the movie. They are also reshooting a couple scenes that show the lead male and female having obvious friction between them, to sort of hint that there is no affection between them, which supports their lack of on-screen romantic chemistry. Finally, they will add and shoot a final scene with her where she gets eaten by a shark, as a surprise in the movie and as a way to get rid of her so that the main male character can now turn his attention to me." Penny waited for a few seconds to see if Leonard understood all she just said.

Leonard was now really confused why Penny wasn't extremely happy, after all he heard she should be jumping up and down in excitement. "I might not be understanding this all right because I thought you would be happy with this turn of events." This actually was making him worried again, because he knew there was something more, she wasn't telling him.

Penny sighed, she was going to have to tell him the bad part some time, it was just she didn't know it would be so hard, "Leonard, tomorrow I film one of the final scenes of the movie, a scene they wrote in for my character, it is a big make out scene with the male lead, a scene where we are all lovey-dovey with each other, holding each other and exchanging kisses."

Penny felt like she had just ripped the band-aide off an open wound as she looked at the expression on Leonard's face, it obviously being a surprise to him. She couldn't really explain why but this bothered her, it had bothered her earlier today when she read the new script and now it upset her more as she had to tell Leonard what that script had her doing. She knew why it upset her, she had been really happy since her and Leonard moved in together, the fears of losing her freedom and commitment, never really appearing as the joy of living with him soon surpassed everything else.

"Oh." Leonard said softly, he didn't know what else to say. He couldn't help thinking that this was going back to one of his fears, that once she became a fulltime actor that one of those handsome leading men would take her away.

Penny nodded and then repeated just as softly, "Yeah, Oh." she then looked at Leonard directly and very seriously, "I don't want to kiss another man, even though it is acting and it means nothing, I don't want to do it." she now got even more serious and her voice cracked a little as she spoke, "Leonard, I don't know how to describe my feelings after this last week, I do know though that I miss you all the time when we are apart and I can't even imagine another man touching me, especially kissing me, that isn't you."

Leonard was a speechless, never had she said things like that to him before, he really was not prepared for such openness from her, as a matter of fact he had actually been resigned that she may never be able to be so open with him. He was so stunned that the whole reason for the conversation seemed to only confuse him now, her words about how she felt about him the only thing he could process in his mind as he looked at her. However, as the seconds ticked by, he suddenly became aware of the awkwardness that was forming because as he looked at her, he slowly became aware that she was waiting for him to now say something.

Leonard didn't really know the right words to say, his mind had been thinking he was going to lose her to a handsome male actor just before she told how she felt about him and them. But he knew he needed to say something, she was staring at him, waiting, "Penny, I don't like the idea of you kissing another man either, but to be honest I've always understood that you moving towards your career goal of being a full-time actress would involve you kissing other men. I guess that is something that I was always been concerned about and was the reason I joked about you leaving me for someone like Ryan Gosling. I guess I could never understand why someone so wonderful as you even wanted to be with me so I always feared that when you became a famous actress something like that would happen." he explained.

Penny was taken back, she never really realized he seriously felt that way, she always thought it was a joke between him, her and their friends. "Leonard."

Leonard held up his hand, "Please let me finish." he then said softly. "I however have also learned a couple things over the years, things like you can't make someone love you, so if they want someone else you have to let them go. I guess what I'm trying to say is that being an actress is your dream job and to do that job you are going to have to kiss other guys, so if that leads to you leaving me for another guy..." Leonard took a deep breath, "If you find you want someone else, I understand I have to let you go, and I need to stop worrying about it because what will happen will happen no matter how much I think about it." he finally told her.

Penny had a tear slide down her cheek, she felt terrible that he was so insecure about her love for him, especially since she knew over the years, she had fueled that insecurity. Her mind immediately going back to when she dumped him because she couldn't tell him she loved him, that mistake still haunting her even after they were back together. "Leonard, I'm not going to leave you for some dumb actor." she said very quietly to him while looking directly into his eyes.

Leonard gave her a small smile and then just as quietly, "Then I guess I shouldn't be the least bit worried about you kissing some dumb actor tomorrow, should I?"

Penny gave her head a little shake for 'no', then softly responded, "No you don't, you have no worry at all."

Leonard now nodded, "Then Penny you should go to work tomorrow and be the best actress you can be, after all like you said this could be your big break so you should give it your all."

Penny just stared at him for a moment before speaking, "Are you sure Leonard, I'm serious about not feeling right kissing him and only wanting your lips on mine."

Leonard smiled a little more, "Acting is about pretending to be someone else and doing what they would do, am I right?" Penny nodded, "Okay, then pretend you are not Penny but this other girl and it is her lips that are doing the kissing and not yours."

"I might be able to do that, but are you sure Leonard?" Penny asked with extreme seriousness.

Leonard nodded, "Like I said, I knew this day was coming where you would have to kiss other men for you career, I just was hoping I guess that it would happen at a later time, when things were more..." Leonard stopped then swallowed hard before continuing, "I don't know, just at a later time."

"When things were more what Leonard." Penny stared right at him, into his eyes.

"Nothing, it's nothing." Leonard quickly said while turning his eyes down to now not look at her.

Penny however wouldn't give up, "Please Leonard, when things were more what, I need to know."

"It is way too soon; I don't want to screw up things again between us." Leonard softly responded, still not looking at Penny.

"Leonard please, now I have to know, I promise I won't get mad or hold you to anything you say, just tell me." Penny's heart was now beating hard, she thought that he could even hear it, deep down inside she thought she knew what he was trying to say and she needed to hear it.

Leonard slowly brought his head up to look at her, "I was never going to mention this now, I was giving you all the time you needed. I love what we have now and I would do nothing to jeopardize it, so please don't think you need to answer anything when I tell you, okay?"

Penny nodded, it seemed like butterflies where in her stomach, "Okay, I promise."

"I meant when things were more permanent between us...that we were married." he said the last part so softly that Penny almost didn't hear it.

Penny stared at him, but not for what he said because in a way it was not a surprise, she knew he loved her deeply and to be honest, she had a much deeper love for him too, especially after now living with him. She honestly couldn't see herself with anyone else anymore and then she suddenly got scared, not because he mentions marriage but because she knew it would kill her if she ever lost him. She had never felt this way for any guy until Leonard came along and she had been much more open with him than any other guy, letting him into who she really was and giving her heart to him. This had led to one of her greatest fears, her emotions where now tied to him and he held a great power over her to hurt her like no other man had ever had, a power she gave to him because she trusted him and truly believed he loved her. However, that trust didn't extend to the people around him, Alex immediately coming to mind, and she knew if she didn't make their relationship move forward with him, she would be always be worried that every encounter he had could lead to another woman taking him away from her.

Penny just looked at him as her mind came to a conclusion, she was very happy with the way things were now between them and just like him she didn't want anything to change, at least change for the worse. She had found that living with him hadn't really changed her life, like she had always feared, and she saw no reason why she should leave what she had with Leonard, she was still able to continue working to become an actress and actually with Leonard she was making progress she never made before. Plus, most importantly deep down inside she really loved him, loved him so much it hurt, she actually was planning on marrying him someday, it was just not today. So, in one moment it was settled in her mind, just talking about it didn't scare her or make mad like before, it was just something that had to wait a little while and with that thought a small smile formed on her face. "Leonard, I think about marrying you too, but just not now and I'm not upset that you think the way you do about it because like I said it is in my mind, too."

Leonard could have been knocked over with a feather as he now stared at her a little stunned, she had never made such an admission to him before. "You...you..what?" however, was all he could get out of his mouth.

Penny smiled, having to restrain herself from just jumping on him and kissing him, a sudden urge to just tell him 'YES' she would marry him crossing her mind, she knew how happy it would make him and she just loved making him happy anymore. However, she knew today was too early and she hoped that he understood, so she just repeated to him what she said before to reassure him. "I think about us getting married, Honey. I mean look at us, we have been living together and it have been really good, and we have been happy, at least I have been. It is hard not to think about making it permanent, especially when you love the guy you are living with." she gave him a shy smile with those last words.

"Really!" Leonard still couldn't get over she was actually discussing marriage with him and not getting mad or upset.

Penny nodded, "I love you, people in love usually get married, so yes it is on my mind and it doesn't scare me like it did before, actually it feels like something that will happen and will happen with you...just not today."

Leonard was still a little stunned that he was actually calmly discussing marriage with Penny, but at least the initial shock was over, so he nodded. "I love you too Penny and like I said before I will wait for you."

Penny smiled. "Thank you, and I promise not to make you wait too long."

Leonard gave her a nod and a smile, "Okay."

"Well, I'm hungry and I need to study lines tonight, so..." Penny gave him a dazzling smile, she needed to change the conversation, she was not use to laying her feelings out like she had just done, even though she had been doing more and more with Leonard.

Leonard gave her a large smile back, "Well I have spaghetti simmering, garlic bread and salad, it's not fancy, but it will fill you up."

"Spaghetti sounds great." Penny said while continuing to smile at him.

"Well why don't you get comfortable and I'll bring you a plate." he then got up and headed to the kitchen area.

However, Penny got up with him and followed him making him turn and look at her confused, which made her blush and giggle, as she explained. "I would like to eat quickly, so we can start with reviewing my lines early so we can go to bed early." she stared right into his eyes, "I really need some serious loving tonight."

Leonard's jaw dropped and it took a second for him to recover, her expression as she looked at him just dripping sex. He took a deep breath, "Okey Dokey." he then turned and hurried to the kitchen to get the food, Penny close on his heals.

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The next day Penny was more concerned about leaving Leonard than her acting in the movie that day, she couldn't seem to be more than a foot or two away from him since they discussed their relationship and marriage the night before. Leonard had spent a couple hours the night before rehearsing her lines with her and sharing little kisses with her throughout the whole time, whether she got her lines right or not. He also helped her with the scene where she kissed the other actor, their recreation of the scene getting more and more intense with each attempt until they were kissing each other like there was no tomorrow, which quickly escalated to them making love in their bedroom. Their whole love making had been amazing and by the time they finished they both held each other close and couldn't let each other go, falling asleep in each other's arms and waking that way the next morning. So, Penny really didn't want to leave the apartment or even their bed that next morning, the emotional high she had felt since their talk still just as strong as it was the night before. It was only Leonard's calm soothing voice about how today was important for her and the kisses he gave her that finally got her out the door, but she still drove on autopilot all the way to the movie site, her mind refusing to focus on anything but him.

Today was different for Penny, the whole week her costume for the movie was mostly just a bikini, but today she was filming some of the last scenes and she got to wear shorts and a top. However, it was difficult for her to concentrate that day, her mind still not wanting to leave their apartment and the cute Experimental Physicist that she was now getting very serious with, so it only left her one opinion. She had been instructed many times in acting class about immersing herself into the character, and Leonard's reminding her of that, had it front and center in her mind that morning so as she waited for her first scene she kept telling herself she was Susan, a pretty carefree college cheerleader who had just survived from one of the most horrible experiences of her life. It helped her through the day, Penny's ability to separate herself from the character let her make it through each scene, even the kissing and the short make out scene without the guilt she had from the night before.

So, it was a very happy Penny that practically ran out of the tent used as a dressing room to the cast and crew parking area where Leonard was waiting for her, practically jumping on him as soon as she was close enough. Neither of them had any idea how long they kissed but they finally had to stop when they heard 'you two need to get a room' and the laughter of several people. They both then looked at each other and smiled before they were able to let go of each other to get into Leonard's SUV, Raj having dropped Leonard off at Penny's location after Leonard was off work so that he and Penny could be together in one car. Penny would have claimed Leonard was in full Romance Ninja mode that night, because they then went to a nice restaurant on the ocean front to eat and afterwards took a walk along the beach under the stars, Leonard actually doing the same as her and taking his shoes off to let the surf wash up on his toes, to Penny's delight. The night ending with a very touchy ride home and several hours in bed pleasing each other before the both of them fell asleep exhausted but very happy.

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The weekend went very well for Leonard and Penny, it would have been perfect if it wasn't for the several times during the weekend that they had to chase Sheldon away from their front door because Leonard wanted to spend his time with Penny instead of doing things with him. It reached its worse on Sunday morning, when Sheldon started knocking on their door at 6:30 AM, to make sure that Leonard would be ready to drive them both at 7:00 AM to the Sunday morning paintball match that morning. Leonard and Penny both woken up, by his knocking, from a deep sleep that they had only just started at 3:00 AM that morning after some serious love making the night before. Penny who had been comfortably sleeping practically on a warm Leonard, was especially angry at the Wack-a-Doodle for disturbing them so while Leonard tried to explain to his friend why sleeping in with his girlfriend was something he preferred to paintball, Penny reached over from her warm spot in bed to get her cell phone.

"Hello." a tired voice answered her call.

"Did I wake you up?" Penny asked, not really concerned if she did since she had been woken up.

"Penny?" the voice answered

"Amy, you need to come get Sheldon now." Penny quickly said with a little anger in her words.

Amy sighed, "What is he doing now?"

"He is at the front door lecturing Leonard on his obligations to take him to paintball this morning and how he is also required to participate." Penny explained based on what she was hearing of the conversation from the front door.

"Well Leonard did tell him things wouldn't really change much after you two moved down to the third floor together." Amy tried to explain.

"AMMYY!" Penny whined in tired frustration, "Leonard and I didn't get to sleep till 3 this morning and we both were extremely wore out. We just need to sleep for a while longer to regain our strength, so Sheldon needs to BUG OFF!"

"Oh." Amy quickly understood what why they were up till 3 AM and had regain their strength. Amy sighed, "I'll call him."

"Thank you, Amy. He needs to know things are different now and that Leonard and I are moving our relationship along." Penny explained, feeling she needed to explain it to Amy.

"I know but you know he has trouble with change. It was why he refers to you as the succubus that stole his friend."

"He calls me a suc...suck-you-bus?" Penny asked in confusion.

"Succubus, do you know what it means?" Amy asked

"It has 'suck' in it and Sheldon called me it so it can't be good, I expect."

'No, it is not, anyway I'll call him."

"Thanks Amy, I promise we will talk to Sheldon later on about this stuff, but not this morning." Penny told Amy as sort of an appeasement.

"Okay, bye." Amy responded.

"Bye." Penny then listened to hear Sheldon's phone going off a few seconds later and heard some 'Yes, Amy' and 'but he promised' replies before she heard their front door close and Leonard showed up in the bedroom again.

"You called Amy, didn't you?" Leonard accused.

"Leonard it is 6:30 in the morning." Penny whined

Leonard climbed into bed and took Penny into his arms before he kissed her hard, finally ending the kiss to look into Penny surprised eyes, "That's my girl, thank you."

A big wicked grin formed on Penny's face, then she suddenly pushed Leonard on his back and straddled him, immediately rubbing herself on him and getting the result she desired, while still looking into his eyes. "I need to be relaxed again before I can sleep." she told him while smiling.

Leonard smiled back, "Okey Dokey."


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

When that Monday morning rolled around Leonard found himself lying in bed with Penny wrapped around him, the alarm clock going off that morning resulting in Penny rolling around from being spooned by Leonard to now laying on him with her arms holding him tightly. She never said a word the whole time just changed from him holding to her to now her holding him and Leonard knew he would be lying if he didn't admit that he loved having her being so affectionate with him. That was actually the problem, he should get up so he could ready for work but he really didn't want to get out of bed with Penny being this way with him, memories of their weekend, just them together, still making him feel good inside while he laid next to his girlfriend. He quickly rationalized that it wasn't a real problem, as he looked down on the blonde hair that covered his chest, his thinking making him appreciate how lucky he was that Penny was in his life and that he had to make sure for the rest of his life to always appreciate that luck.

Leonard gently gave Penny shoulder a little shake, "Penny I need to get my phone."

Penny was already back half asleep and she selfishly didn't want Leonard to leave her, so she had quickly gone to grab hold of him as soon as the alarm went off, something in the back of her brain telling her if she held on to him, he wouldn't leave her bed. She had even been ready to resist his leaving, but instead he just laid there and her being so comfortable on him lulled her back to sleep, but now she was confused because he was not trying to get up but asking for his phone. "Your phone?" she mumbled as she tried to wake up her mind enough to understand what was now happening.

"Yes, love bug, my phone, can I get my phone?" he repeated with a little chuckle.

Penny became more awake and more confused about him wanting his phone. "Are you calling Sheldon?"

Leonard smiled, "No, I'm calling in to work to tell them I won't be in till this afternoon."

That woke Penny completely up, "You're staying with me!"

Leonard smiled a little more, "Just till we go out and have lunch together, but then I have to go in."

Penny now smiled, "Okay." then let go of him so he could reach his phone."

The next couple minutes she gave him little kisses on his chest as she listened to him telling the secretary he was taking some personal time and would not be in till the afternoon. She then again, cuddled tightly against him after he put his phone back down on the night stand. "I love you, honey."

"I love you too, Love Bug." Leonard kept smiling as he felt Penny giggle about being called 'Love Bug' then felt her body relax as she fell back asleep. Again, he felt incredibly lucky as he too soon joined her in sleep.

They woke up about 10:30 AM that morning and after a shower together, that saved no water or time, they went to a local IHOP to brunch together. So, it was about 1:00 PM when Penny finally dropped off Leonard at work, making out with him for about ten minutes before he got out of the SUV, both of them with swollen lips and dilated eyes when they finally parted. Both of them also longing for later when Penny would come pick him up and they would be back together again.

Now that Leonard was gone Penny didn't have much to do the rest of the day, the movie she was in the week before was going through a director's initial screening and review before the final cut and she had been requested to stand by her phone by the production company that whole week in case it was determined they needed to quickly reshoot any scenes. It wasn't really that bad a situation for her because there wasn't anything being filmed for her to be an extra on that week and the productions company agreed to pay her $100 a day just to be available each day that week so that they could call her in immediately if they needed her. So, since Penny now had some extra time, she decided to do something she had been wanting to do for a while, the shark movie she acted in giving her both the money and credentials to finally get her Screen Actors Guild (SAG) membership and her SAG card. It really meant a lot to her because it made her feel like a professional, so this afternoon she decided to go to the production company's office to pick up her previous week's check and get the paperwork to submit for her SAG membership.

There was also something else Penny had to do that afternoon, that she wasn't too excited to do, stop by the CheeseCake Factory, she still was employed there part-time and since she had taken off for the movie, she now needed to make up for the time they gave her. Therefore, it was not a cheerful Penny who picked up Leonard that evening from work, something Leonard noticed immediately as soon as he got in the SUV. Her being so quiet making him immediately curious about what was bothering her, "Did you have problems today with the production company?"

Penny sighed, "No, everything there went fine. I got my check and deposited it and they gave me the paperwork that I need to apply for my SAG membership."

"But something is still wrong, isn't it."? Leonard pried further.

"Well remember I told you I was going to the CheeseCake Factory afterward." she began

Leonard nodded, "Did they give you problems about last week."

"No, actually they were really nice, but that is the problem." Penny then sighed again.

"I don't understand." Leonard was now confused.

"Well they want me to work this week, but you know I can't work during the day because I'm supposed to be on call and I explained that to Mike the Manager, so he asked me to work evenings the rest of the week since I won't be on call during the evenings. He also told me if they call me in just to tell him and he will take care of it and he was so nice I couldn't tell him no." Penny was choking up at the end of her explanation.

"I still don't understand, it seems he is bending over backward for you, am I missing something." Leonard was still confused.

Penny nodded, "Leonard I won't get to see you this week, with you working during the day and me in the evening, the only time we will be with each other is when we are in bed."

"OH!" was all he could say after everything she was telling him finally came together in his mind.

Penny nodded, "Yeah, Oh." she then sighed once more in defeat.

"Well at least we have the weekend." Leonard said cheerfully to try and brighten her spirits.

Penny just turned and looked at him for a second, the expression on her face telling him everything he needed to know. "The weekend, too?"

Penny nodded, "I have to work two eight-hour shifts on Saturday and Sunday from lunch through dinner."

"That is about 40-hours this week, isn't it? Did you remind Mike that you are now only working part-time?" Leonard said with a little frustration, now a little upset too that Penny was upset and that he wouldn't get to see her that much the rest of the week.

"I can't Leonard, he needs me and I owe them, so I just said yes."

"Even though you don't want to work there anymore?" Leonard asked while looking at her.

Penny nodded. "Yes, but I'm not going to quit yet because I'm not working enough as an actress yet to make up the pay. They are also so nice to me, they allowed me to work only part-time and really helped me with my hours when I had a show or movie to work on."

"You know you don't have to keep working there, I can pay for this apartment, and you will still have money from your acting." Leonard said softly.

Penny smiled at him. "I know sweetie, but I need to feel like an equal partner here and that means I have to pay my share. You are already helping in that my part of rent and utilities is less than when I lived alone."

Leonard nodded, "Okay, just remember the offer is out there."

"I will honey, thank you."

"How about I treat you to a nice steak to cheer you up." he now said with a smile.

"I love steak. You really know the way to charm a girl Hofstadter." she responded with a giggle, Leonard always seeming to know how to cheer her up.

Leonard chuckled, "They don't call me the Romance Ninja for nothing." which made Penny giggle and swat his arm before they both broke out laughing.

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It only took one day of Leonard getting up early for work then not seeing Penny until she staggered back home at almost 11 PM to make Leonard motivated to do something about it. Even though he made her just sit down while he made her something to eat then rubbed her feet for her as she relaxed, he knew he wanted to do more because to be honest it bothered him to see her so worn out and tired. So, the next morning, after the alarm went off, it felt even worse to Leonard when Penny clamped on to him, not wanting him to leave, her telling him she missed him only making him want to stay with her. Therefore, most of that morning at work he spent on figuring out a plan to spend more time with his girlfriend and making the rest of the week easier for her.

He started with making arrangements to come in late the rest of the week, this allowing him to pamper Penny when she came home each night with food, a foot massage and at least an hour of mindless TV watching to allow her to wind down and relax enough to go to sleep. This gave Penny at least 8 to 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night in Leonard's arms, without her having to wake up and beg him to stay in her bed, also it gave them some time, after they got up, to have brunch prior to Leonard leaving for work in afternoon. Penny couldn't believe Leonard was doing all this for her after the first night and morning of his plan, her waking up at almost 11 AM to find Leonard still holding her tight bringing a huge smile to her face as she showered him with kisses as soon as she realized what he had done. This pampering of her also had major impact on her because it made her feel extremely loved and special by her boyfriend, which only made her crush harder on Leonard. She had lived with Kurt for several years and had a couple short relationships with guys after moving across from Leonard, even once thinking that a guy named Mike may be the one, but none of them ever showed any kind of concern for her well-being as Leonard was showing her now. It gave Penny a lot of food for thought as she worked that evening, and as she thought back to every dream she had about marrying the perfect man, except for tall and muscular, Leonard had everything she ever wanted, plus he was adorably cute to her and very handsome, especially when he got all dressed up.

So, it was Saturday night when Bernadette and Amy walked up to the bar, finding two seats quickly and waiting as her friend finished cleaning some glasses with a far-off stare in her eye. Penny efficiently finished her task then started to walk down the bar to take care of her customers, it was usually busy in the restaurant for a Saturday night, the bar not half as busy because the restaurant was mainly full of families, but she didn't want to keep any of the patrons waiting for drinks because it seemed every time she worked the bar her tips were better. So, it was a little surprise for her when she reached her friends and she stopped to look at them wide eyed for a second before a smile formed on her face. "Hey guys, what brings you here?"

"Leonard told us you were working the bar this evening and had been working hard all week here, so we thought we would visit." Bernadette started.

"Plus, it was better than watching Sheldon do laundry, then the guys playing video games." Amy added.

"Yeah, that too." Bernadette concurred, "Since you weren't home to have a girl's night, we thought we would have one here."

Penny smiled a little wider, "Well I'd tell you not to drink too much, because you have to drive home, but since Leonard dropped me off and will pick me up later, one of us can drive you home if it gets to that."

"No need, Leonard dropped us off and told us he would pick us all up after the place closes, since when you work the bar you can leave as soon as you're done." Bernadette explained

Penny looked surprised, "He did!"

"Yeah, Sheldon bitched a little about taking time from HALO but Leonard seemed determined to get us here for some girl time." Amy explained.

Penny couldn't help the large smile on her face, it was 9 PM and the restaurant would be open for two more hours, the girls being there that whole time made her happy and the thought that it had partly been Leonard's idea made her extremely happy. Penny looked at her friends. "Okay how about a couple Cosmopolitans and an order of fried vegetables to start things off." Both girls quickly nodding to Penny's suggestion. "I'll have them right up." a very happy Penny responded, then turned and almost skipped over to put their order in and make their drinks.

"Our bestie seems very happy to see us, I'm glad Leonard suggested we come to visit." Amy softly told Bernadette.

"Yeah, me too, Penny has been seeming much happier since her and Leonard became roommates." Bernadette added.

"I think living with Leonard may not have been as scary as she first thought, I know living with Sheldon has been enjoyable for myself." Amy now added.

Bernadette nodded then turned to smile at Amy, "So are you on schedule with your five-year plan with Sheldon?"

Amy giggled, "With Sheldon asking me to move in, I'm actually ahead." her smile and happiness making both girls giggle.

"What's so funny." Penny asked as she put the two drinks down in front of her friends.

"Amy and Sheldon living together." Bernadette blurted out.

Penny frowned, somehow a girlfriend and boyfriend living together seemed like a good thing with her, she loved living with Leonard and she expected Amy loved living with Sheldon. "I don't get what is so funny about Amy and Sheldon living together."

"It is not that we are living together that is funny." Amy began to explain, "It is just Sheldon was the one that accelerated our relationship status by asking me to move in, who would have guessed that would happen."

"Oh." Penny responded with a nod, "How is that going with your five-year plan, Ames?"

Both Amy and Bernadette both giggled more, before Amy said, "That is what she asked." nodding towards Bernadette which made Penny chuckle and shake her head, she loved her friends to death, she never had friends before that she could trust like she could these two, the were truly the kind of friends that had your back. "Okay, well don't choke on your drinks, I'll get your appetizer now." Penny walked towards the end of the bar where one of the busboys had put Amy and Bernadette's order, just lightly shaking her head at her friends and smiling.

Leonard smiled as he watched all three girls come out of the now closed CheeseCake Factory, they all seemed to be laughing and carrying on, which made Leonard feel good to see Penny so happy after working all day. So, no sooner than the doors on the right side of the SUV opened and the girls piled inside he couldn't help but comment, "Well it looks like you all had a good time."

Penny giggled, "Well since you offered to drive them and Amy now lives in our building while Howard will drive Bernadette home tonight, they sort of got hammered. Also, I'm not use to being sober while my friends are hammered, so it is so funny." she then giggled again.

"We're not hammered." Bernadette insisted

"Right, what was that you said you were going to do to Howard tonight." Penny asked with a smirk on her face

Bernadette stopped for a second to think with her muddled mind, "Okay we're hammered." she then giggled which made Amy giggle.

"You didn't get in any trouble with them being like that?" Leonard leaned over to quietly ask Penny.

Penny shook her head, "Nah, they only got real giggly the last twenty minutes or so and the bar was almost empty at that time."

"The show was over by then." Amy added.

"Penny got a lot of tips." Bernadette chimed in almost singing her comment.

Leonard looked at Penny confused, only to see her shrug, "I wasn't really nothing."

"The other bartender bumped into Penny and spilled a whole martini down the front of Penny's shirt." Amy started to explain.

"And every guy in the place wanted drinks from the bar for the next hour." Bernadette added

"Penny is wearing a lacy bra." Amy finished.

Penny turned red while looking at Leonard, who was looking at her blouse, now a little confused. "It wasn't every guy." she hissed at her friends which only made them giggle more. She then apologetically looked back at Leonard, "It is dry now."

"Oh, okay." Leonard looked back forward as he now put the car in drive, while Penny gave her two friend a death glare, which only made them laugh more, making her rethink her thoughts about what great friends she had earlier.

It took both of them to get Amy and Bernadette up the stairs and no sooner than they got to the fourth floor, Bernadette burst into 4A and crawled into Howard's lap, putting kisses on a very surprised Howard. Amy followed her in but was not drunk enough to realize she better not do that with Sheldon, who just stared first at Bernadette then her. "Amy are you drunk?"

"Just a little." Amy squeaked out, then she just turned a little green, "Excuse me." as she quickly went to the bathroom.

Bernadette just snorted, "She is such a light weight." but as soon as everyone heard Amy throwing up, Bernadette just as quickly turned green and flew off Howard's lap to the same bathroom Amy just went to.

Sheldon just looked at Penny who had a little smile on her face from what just happened, "This is your fault." he accused her.

"Hey I didn't make them come to CheeseCake Factory bar and drink so much." Penny immediately defended herself to him.

"Then it is your fault." he now looked at Leonard, "If you didn't tell them how nice it would be to visit Penny and that they would be just bored staying here, this would have never happened."

Leonard hung his head down and sighed, "Guilty as charged." his only comment.

Penny smiled and caressed his arm. "Aww, did you do that for me, Sweetie." she then kissed his cheek.

It was about an hour later, after suffering through a 15-minute lecture from Sheldon about getting his girlfriend drunk that was cut short when Amy came out of the bathroom and Sheldon had to take care of her, that Leonard and Penny were both soaking in their bath tub. Penny was already half asleep as she leaned back into Leonard, the warm water and bubbles making her very relaxed and the knowledge that Leonard wouldn't let anything happen to her if she fell asleep making her very comfortable in his arms. Leonard himself was just quietly thinking about how lucky he was to have someone like Penny that cared about him and currently just wanted to held by him, her having no reservations anymore about confessing her love for him or happiness about living with him. The only problem was that the water was going to get cooler in a short time and the way Penny was acting she would be asleep in about that same time.

"Penny, we should probably get out of the tub before the water gets cold." Leonard whispered to blonde who was very content laying in his arms.

"Okay." Penny responded almost in a whisper, while not moving an inch.

Leonard smiled, he thought she was so adorable when she was like this, relaxed and just wanting to be cuddled, and he was so happy he was the guy who she wanted to be that way with. This was the true intimacy in their relationship, she told him a couple times before that she hadn't taken baths with other guys before, not even Kurt or Mike, so it was something she only did with him, it was only their thing and because of that it was special to Leonard. He sighed slightly in contentment himself and just squeezed Penny a little closer to him, a huge wave of affection going through him for this young woman who had decided to spend this part of her life with him, he felt like the luckiest man on earth at that moment.

Penny felt Leonard squeeze her a little tighter, in her relaxed state it just made her feel more wanted and loved, which made her feel even more love for the man who arms she was in. She loved snuggling with Leonard, when it came to snuggling and cuddling Leonard was the best of any guy she had ever known, just being in his arms made her feel special, cared about and happy. It was with those thoughts that she finally decided to get out of the tub, the thought of being all snuggled up to Leonard in their bed overriding the bath she was now in.

Penny shifted a little to more of a sitting position from her just laying back against Leonard, "All right Sweetie can you help me up."

It was only 10-minutes later, they were in their bed, Penny only wearing one of Leonard's well washed and extremely soft T-shirts as she lay against him with her head on his chest. She loved snuggling up to his warm body and the way he would gently rub her back and shoulder as laid on him, it was so relaxing she could barely hold her eyelids open and felt herself quickly drifting off, except before she went she had only one thing left to do, "I love you, honey."

Leonard smiled, then kissed the top of her head, "I love you too, love bug."

A small relaxed smile formed on Penny's face while a very slight hum came from her before she finally let go and let sleep take her away. Leonard knew she was asleep when he felt her body completely relax against him and then heard the cutest little snores start to come from her. Again, he smiled in happiness, her being with him making him relax and close his eyes too, to let sleep slowly take him away.

When Sunday finally rolled around Penny felt pretty good, her and Leonard having a lazy morning, eating pancakes and drinking coffee before she had to head to work. Today she didn't mind as much about going to work, as the previous days of the week, because she knew she now would have a couple days off, when today was done, and she would go back to only working about 20-hours a week. There was also something else she knew as she started to waitress tables that day and that was how right Leonard had been about doing something different with her acting career. This past week, working as a waitress again for 40 hours in a week, was not something she wanted to do anymore and just going through it again was making her now realize that taking all those extra parts, like Leonard encouraged her to do, was something she much rather do than spend her life waiting tables anymore. Leonard had been also right about it moving her towards her goal, the SCIFI movie had been a chance for her to really act and was a huge step up from that terrible ape movie she did years ago when she first came to California. Things were changing in Penny's life and as she thought about it between waiting tables she knew this change was for the better and it was easy to see that it all related to her being with Leonard.

The day had been busy but not really too bad, Penny knew there was some sort of championship game on TV that afternoon, so they never got slammed and the customers just came in steady for a Sunday. So, towards the end of her shift, only two more hours to go, she smiled a genuine smile as she walked over to the table with a new group of patrons just sitting down to eat, "Hey guys, this is a surprise."

Leonard smiled back at his roommate, "I hope you don't mind, I just thought we could all sort of eat and visit with you this evening."

"We all decided instead of having takeout this evening at Sheldon's we would come and see you." Bernadette added.

"They ignored my objections and refused to get our normal takeout." Sheldon added.

"No, this is great, I love seeing you all here, even you Sheldon, it reminds me of old times, I love this." Penny gushed her smile even bigger than a moment before.

"How are you guys doing after yesterday." Penny then asked Amy and Bernadette.

"Okay, Howie took care of me." Bernadette added then turned to husband and gave him a wink, which actually made Howard blush.

"Sheldon took care of me, too." Amy stated, a proud smile on her face.

"And this is the thanks I get in return; Tuesday night is CheeseCake Factory night not Sunday." Sheldon complained.

Penny smiled at her friends, and ignored Sheldon, "Leonard has been taking care of me this whole week, he makes sure I get a good night's sleep, feeds me and takes care any aches or pains I have."

Bernadette got an evil smile on her face, "I bet he takes care of you." then watching Penny and Leonard blush.

"You were pretty happy last night and seemed satisfied." Amy added.

Penny blushed again, "Alright, remember this is a family restaurant." she told her two friends with a smile she couldn't seem to take off her face.

Penny did however want to change the subject and she needed to at least try to work. "So, the usual drinks for everyone?" when everyone nodded or said yes, Penny then left the table to get their drinks.

She had just filled the drink tray to take back to the table, when her friend Cheryl walked over, "I'll take those to the table."

"Huh." Penny looked at Cheryl confused.

"I'll wait your friends table, Mike said you could clock out early and join your friends for dinner." Cheryl explained.

Penny's was really surprised, "That is so nice, I'm surprised he noticed they came in."

"He didn't, at least not till I pointed it out to him and said that we could probably do without you the rest of the evening." Cheryl continued to explain.

Penny's jaw dropped, Cheryl was the senior waitress at the CheeseCake Factory and helped the manager with the waitress scheduling so Penny knew if Cheryl told Mike that Penny was not needed anymore, he would listen. "Thank you so much." Penny then hugged her friend before she quickly made her way to the employee's lounge to get one of Leonard's hoodies, she kept in her locker, to cover her uniform.

"Okay, I have your drinks but you better tell me who gets what." Cheryl told them as she stopped at the table with the drink tray Penny loaded.

Leonard was immediately confused, "Where's Penny?"

His question was immediately answered when two hands grasped his shoulders, "I'm right here." and his confused expression changed to a smile as Penny put a kiss to his cheek before grabbing an extra chair from a nearby empty table so she could sit between Leonard and Amy.

Leonard was surprised to see Penny sitting down next to him, her CheeseCake Factory uniform top now replaced with a hoodie he gave her a while ago, but he was also delighted that it seemed she was now going to have dinner with the group. "Did they give you some time off to eat with us?"

Penny nodded and smiled, "They let me clock out early, so now I can actually eat with my friends," then in a softer voice, "and my boyfriend."

"That is great." Bernadette said with a huge smile on her face.

"Yea, my bestie gets to eat with us instead of serve us." Amy added, while everyone else nodded and smiled, except for Sheldon who still couldn't get over them forcing him to go to the CheeseCake Factory on a Sunday night.

Cheryl smiled, happy she had something to do with making her friend and her boyfriend happy, "Okay, like I said before who gets what drink."

A little over an hour later Penny rode back to their apartment, her head on Leonard's shoulder, and a huge smile still on her face from since she sat down to have dinner with her friends. She had really enjoyed herself, spending the time with them all and eating, especially being able to sit and touch Leonard anytime she wanted. It would have been the perfect evening if it wasn't for having to deal with Sheldon not knowing what to eat because it was Sunday and they were at the CheeseCake Factory, everybody getting angry with him until Cheryl told him he had one last time to order before she just didn't include him in the groups order. Sheldon's treats to turn her into the manager defeated when everyone agreed they would take Cheryl's side, even Amy, making him finally order his usual Tuesday Barbeque Bacon Cheeseburger that Sunday.

So, when they finally parked in the apartment parking lot, Penny was feeling a strong need to cuddle with Leonard in their bed. They hadn't had sex since she started these shifts that week and now after having a nice relaxing meal with her friends, plus knowing she didn't have to work the next day, cuddling with Leonard and the obvious sex that it would lead to was something strongly on her mind. However, there was still one thing she wanted, "Honey are you going into work early tomorrow? Do you have any more personal time you can take?"

Leonard looked at her confused, "Yeah, I was planning on going in at the normal time because you had off, why is there something you want me to do?"

Penny put her hand on Leonard's thigh, then ran it up to his crotch, gently giving it a little rub until she was sure Leonard knew exactly what she wanted him to do. Leonard's eyes got wide, his only word's, "Oh, I could go in a little later tomorrow."

Penny smiled, "Okay well let's go upstairs and if you're good I'll let you soap me up in the shower." They practically ran to building doors and up the stairs to 3A.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The next few weeks were much less busy for Leonard and Penny, Leonard working his regular hours and Penny mostly working part-time at the CheeseCake Factory as she only got two one day extra jobs during this time. Normally before she would be depressed about the lack of opportunities for acting work but Leonard kept her spirits up with encouragement that if she kept at it things would improve and so far, he hadn't been wrong, her acting on the shark movie had been a huge step up for her. Penny having her SAG membership now and having her old agent back also gave Penny more confidence, it made her the feel that at least her acting career was moving, even though at a slow pace, and that was something she hadn't never felt before, since she came to California.

So, it was after an interesting day at work, when Leonard found out in the cafeteria that there would be a tenure position opening up and then spending another half hour listening to Sheldon explain why he was the only one of them qualified for it, Leonard made his way up the stairs to 3A. Like every other day he returned home he unlocked the door, opened it and once inside put his keys in the bowl but as soon as he closed the door behind him, things changed. Leonard almost jumped in alarm as he heard Penny yell "Leonard" and then only got a quick glimpse of blonde hair as his roommate came running across the living room before she launched herself at him, pushing him against the door while her mouth went to his and her arms and legs wrapped around him. He was in a sort of state of shock as she kissed him intensely, her mouth along with her body pushed tightly against him, all thoughts of tenure now forgotten as he desperately tried to understand what was going on.

Penny had been dying to tell Leonard the news, ever since her agent had called her just over two hours ago, the need to tell him first just making her excitement intensify every second she had to wait for him to come home. Leonard was actually lucky because Penny was so wound up right now that if she would have had to wait another hour, she would have probably stripped her boyfriend already and be having sex with him right now at their front door she was so excited and full of the adrenaline it created. Even now Penny just wanted to have sex with Leonard to celebrate and burn off her energy, the thought of riding him like a bull in rodeo making her mind and body yearn for him, but at least now she could wait till she got him on the couch before she began her celebration.

Leonard always liked making out with Penny, he still saw her as a goddess and whenever they were affectionate, he still felt like the luckiest man on earth. So, when she lowered legs back to the floor to quickly drag him to the couch, he didn't resist, his need to know why she was acting this way being put aside in his mind as the happiness of her wanting him immediately taking over. Surprisingly it was Penny who didn't last long during their coupling, her enthusiasm to have sex with him resulting in a very quick disrobing of both of them by her, a lot of noise by her as she basically got on him without any foreplay and rode him, then a quick "Oh God" with one last loud "Leonard" before she collapsed on top of him. It gave Leonard a new perspective on the saying "Wham-Bam-thank-you-ma, am", but with Penny laying on top of him trying to regain her strength from what he could only assume was a very satisfying orgasm, he smiled smugly at the thought that he could satisfy her like that.

He pulled the blanket from the back of the couch over Penny's naked body, then slowly rubbed her back, hearing a slight moan from his girlfriend as she slightly shifted her body to make herself more comfortable on him while she recovered. Leonard smiled a little more, but now was curious why she was acting like this, "Umm, don't take this wrong or that I'm complaining, but why?"

Penny gave him a little kiss on his neck, which was only about an inch away from her lips, before she let out a little contented sigh. "I got some great news today and I wanted to share it with you." she said softly before kissing his neck again.

"What kind of great news?" Leonard thought it must be something really great for her to be so excited, his thoughts about tenure now in filed away in the back of his mind as he just enjoyed Penny's body against his and her happy mood.

Penny snuggled a little tighter to Leonard, "My agent called this afternoon and you remember when I did that commercial for the hemorrhoid cream."

Leonard nodded, "Yes." Leonard would always remember that time because that was when she almost left California because of her encounter with Raj, he would never forget that time.

"Well you know they played that commercial a lot on TV, that is why I got those residual checks, so when they decided to make another commercial series, they notified my agent that since they liked my work in the previous commercial, I should come in and audition." Penny explained, obviously getting more excited as her voice raised in pitch.

Leonard became a little worried, he had seen for himself and heard from her about the numerous auditions she went to over the years, and had watched as she got depressed from not getting the parts. So, although he felt she was a great actress, he still wondered if she was maybe getting too excited about all this, therefore his next words were said with caution, "So you are going to this audition soon?"

Penny smiled and squeezed him, "No, that is the best part, my agent told them about the Shark Movie I just did and they were impressed so much, especially about the exposure I would have from the move, so they then told her the commercials were mine if I wanted them. I don't have to do the audition; I just got the job!" Penny's voice was now several octaves higher from her excitement.

Now Leonard knew why she was so happy, it really was great news. "I'm so proud of you, Penny."

Penny squeezed him again, "And I owe it all to my fantastic roommate and boyfriend, who pushed me to go out and do everything I could to be an actress."

Leonard smiled, "You're a great actress Penny, you just needed a break, so I just thought if you got seen more people would know how good you are, like I do."

"Oh Leonard." Penny now lifted her head so she could kiss him.

The rest of the evening was spent in their bedroom, Penny now intent to please Leonard anyway she could, while Leonard kept trying to do the same with her. They did manage to order and eat some Pizza during their down times, but otherwise they went at it like two crazed rabbits until almost 10 PM when both of them were exhausted and Penny needed help to the bathroom by Leonard as walking was becoming harder and harder for her to do. So, after getting cleaned up they both collapsed in their bed wrapped in each other's arms, their legs entangled and both of them holding each other tightly, "I love you so much." a very tired Penny told Leonard, her eyes so heavy she couldn't keep them open any more.

Leonard smiled, "I love you so much, too." him only to hearing a soft snore in response, him trying not to chuckle or disturb her until he then quickly fell asleep, too.

Penny woke up the next morning and found herself alone in bed, her only have to look at the alarm clock to understand why, it was 11 AM in the morning. Leonard was obviously at work already and she had been so tired from their celebrating last night that he was able to get up and get dressed without waking her up. She would have probably laid there in bed a little while longer but her bladder had decided she had slept enough and she slowly got out of bed, the aches and pains she now felt reminding her of the night before. Penny smiled as she made her way to their bathroom, her and Leonard's night of love making had been incredible and Penny couldn't remember any other guy she had enjoyed herself so much with as Leonard, not even Kurt or Mike.

It was after she made her way to their kitchen that she found his note before hitting the start button on the coffee machine that he had already set up for her before he left. The note made her smile, it was typical Leonard, he told her again how proud of her he was and how much he loved her, finally giving her more encouraging words about her acting career before it ended by telling her there was a bowl of fruit prepared in the fridge for her. Penny's smile was so big now it was actually straining her face, as she got the bowl out of the fridge and popped a strawberry in her mouth before turning to the coffee maker that was filled enough for her first cup of coffee for the day. She spent the next 10-minutes just rereading Leonard's note, eating fruit and drinking coffee, before sending a couple of text messages to Leonard telling him how much she loved him, too.

Penny felt amazing that morning and happily went to get shower after finishing her fruit, plus a pastry that Leonard also left for her, the excitement and exhilaration from the night returning to her as she thought about Leonard. The shower felt so good that morning, the water soothing to her little aches and pains from the previous night's awesome sex and the great feeling she woke up still making everything seem better that morning, she was so happy she even sang a few of her favorite NSYNC songs as she took a very long soothing shower that morning. All these great feelings she was experiencing had one side effect though, Penny had to tell somebody else the news, she had already told Leonard therefore now she needed to talk to one of her girlfriends so that they could go half-crazy with her about how great she was doing. Consequently, it was Bernadette whose phone rang as soon as Penny got dressed from her shower.

"Hey Penny what's up." Bernadette answered after Penny's picture showed up on her cell phone for the call.

"Do you have a minute to talk?" Penny could barely say calmly as the excitement continued to build in her.

Bernadette could tell something was up, because usually calm Penny now sounded like she was on edge of bursting about something and Bernadette wanted to know what, work had been especially boring that day so any exciting news would be a welcome relief. "Yeah, I haven't taken lunch yet so I talk now, what's going on?"

This was great Penny thought, "Bernadette you'll never guess what is happening." Penny excitedly blurted out as soon as she heard Bernadette's agreement to talk.

Bernadette had a long talk with Howard about what was happening with the guys and how they were all concerned about tenure so she wondered if it was about that, "Does it have something to do with Leonard."

Penny smiled, it was because of Leonard pushing her to take the extra jobs and spending less time working as a waitress and more as an actress that she was doing so well so of course it had something to do with Leonard, "Yes, of course." she responded back proudly.

Bernadette was actually disappointed because she thought she knew exactly what Penny was now excited about. "Howard already told me, Leonard and the guys are competing for tenure." She casually answered.

"Huh?" Of all the responses Penny expected from Bernadette, that was not one of them.

"Yeah, Howard told me it is funny how Raj, Leonard and Sheldon are so uptight and that he was having so much fun teasing them about it." Bernadette explained, a little disappointed, as it seemed that this was exactly Penny's news.

Penny was now confused, Leonard never told her a thing about this tenure thing, especially that it was bothering him. She wasn't even sure she knew what tenure really was, but it was obviously important if Leonard, Raj and Sheldon were worried about it. "Howard shouldn't be so mean." was all she could think to say back to Bernadette that moment, her mind racing to try and make sense now about what had happened the night before.

"Yeah, I told him that but he said Sheldon told Leonard and Raj that they were basically stupid to think that anyone other than him deserved tenure so his teasing was mild compared to that." Bernadette explained.

Penny was now feeling incredibly bad for Leonard, not only did he not tell her this tenure thing was concerning him last night but Sheldon was putting him down again on top of that. It made her angry that Sheldon always put Leonard down, Leonard was so much smarter than Sheldon in ways that Sheldon would never understand. Then in an epiphany Penny realized why Leonard didn't say anything the night before, she had surprised him with her news and he didn't want to take away from her happiness, that was so Leonard, thinking about her before himself.

She didn't realize she had stopped to think and had not spoken on the phone for several moments until Bernadette asked, "Penny you still there?"

Penny blinked a couple times as she came out of her thoughts, and looked back at her phone, "Sorry, I was wondering, what exactly is tenure?"

"Tenure is like a permanent job, you can't be just dismissed without serious justification, it is job security for the guys if they get it. Didn't Leonard explain that to you when he told you about it?" Bernadette asked.

Penny sighed, "Leonard never said a thing, he was too busy making me happy last night."

Bernadette now smiled, this was now getting juicy, "He was, was he, you go girl."

Penny shook her head, "No it wasn't like that exactly, I told him my news and then sort of attacked him and he just participated in my celebration."

Bernadette was now a little confused, "What news did you tell him."

Penny sighed again, her news not seeming so great now since she knew Leonard had kept his concern about his job hidden so he wouldn't spoil her excitement. "I just got another set of commercials to act in." Penny now said very calmly, like it was no big deal.

"Really, that is great Penny. It really seems like you are getting more and more acting work recently." Bernadette replied with excitement, "What kind of commercials are they?"

"They are just those hemorrhoid cream commercials again." Penny again stated flatly, thoughts about Leonard now fixed in her mind.

Bernadette was now really confused, "Penny is something wrong, I thought you would be thrilled to get a series of commercials, especially after that significant part in that Shark movie?"

Penny sighed again, "No, I'm happy, it is just why didn't Leonard say something about this tenure thing to me, he never said a thing last night, he just was so good to me."

Bernadette found it really cute that Penny was so concerned about Leonard, "Well you know it is Leonard, he has always put your happiness before his, Howard told me long ago that Leonard was smitten with you from the first day he saw you."

Now Penny felt like crying, thoughts about how sweet Leonard was running through her mind. "I gotta go Bernadette, thanks for talking to me."

"Are you okay." Bernadette could hear Penny's voice change, it sounded like she was on the verge of crying.

"I'll be okay, I just need to see Leonard now." Penny barely got out, a tear now rolling down her cheek.

"Okay, but if need someone to talk to just call."

"Thanks, Bernadette." Penny then hung up.

Bernadette just looked at her phone after Penny hung up, shaking her head slightly before saying to no one in particular. "Now, that was strange."

Penny quickly found her flip-flops before she headed towards her door, only delaying to grab her purse and keys before she was out the door and heading down the stairs to her car. However, as soon as she left the apartment building door for the parking lot, she was hit by another realization as she looked for her car, it wasn't there, the reason being that Leonard again left the new SUV for her to drive. He seemed to always do that now, he took her old beat up car to work, while he left her the new car, because, and this made tears drip down her cheeks again, he worried about her and he wanted her to be safe when she went to auditions and extra calls. He was always doing those kind of things for her, ever since he first met her, even when she was dating other guys, he would make sure she had food to eat, help her with her finances, take care of her when she was depressed or had too much to drink, make sure she was safe and protect her. This all just reminded her again about the night before, he had probably come home thinking about that tenure thing and worrying about it since it involved his career, and then she pounced on him about her commercial thing so he just put his problems aside to make her happy. Penny took a deep shaky breath as more tears slid down her cheeks, no man, never even one of them, ever felt about her or took care of her like Leonard, none of them could she ever trust to have her back, none of them, not even Mike who she had once thought she might marry, that honest admission to herself about Mike making Penny shiver where she stood as she realized marrying him would have been the biggest mistake of her life. Penny couldn't stop the tears from trickling down her cheeks, she felt horrible, but that only made her want to hold Leonard even more, so with all her determination she went to the SUV, started it up and drove to Cal Tech.

The trip to Cal Tech seemed to take forever but even after she got there she couldn't get out of the SUV; she was still upset and knew she couldn't walk through the halls of Leonard's building crying. So she laid her head back against the seat headrest and forced herself to stop crying, only succeeding after she fully convinced herself that she would be with Leonard shortly and could then tell him how she truly felt about him, her need to tell him how much she loved him driving her every move since she had hung up with Bernadette earlier. She was grateful that she was so distracted, when she left the apartment, that she didn't put makeup on because now she didn't have fix the mess she would have been from crying all the way there, so she now only had to put on a light amount, mostly to hide her puffy eyes before she went to find her boyfriend.

Penny actually knew her way around in the building Leonard worked, she had visited it about half a dozen times now and knew where his lab and office where, so it didn't take her long to walk up to his lab door and give it a light knock before she walked in. She almost started to cry again when she immediately noticed the lights were off, there was no hum of Leonard's amazing machines working or anyone there, however what kept the tears from falling was she knew she did have one more place to check. She made her way quickly to his office her mind concentrating on only two things, getting to his office and not running into someone on the way there, she didn't even notice the young men staring at her as she passed.

However, like at the lab, no one answered Penny's knocks and when she tried the door knob it was locked, it was almost too much for her to take as she started to breathe a little heavier as she again tried not to cry. What saved her from just crying outside his door was that she remembered she had the key to his office, him giving her a copy after the fourth time she stopped by just in case he wasn't immediately around when she visited again in the future. So, it only took her a second to grab her keys from her purse and open his door, closing and relocking it behind her before a tear rolled down her cheek as she looked around the empty office, it completely confirming to her that Leonard wasn't there.

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"Are you and Penny coming by for takeout tonight?" Sheldon asked Leonard who was sitting across from him in the cafeteria.

Leonard looked up from his food to his ex-roommate, a little surprised how polite he asked him that question. "I'll have to check with Penny, she doesn't really have much of a set schedule anymore with her acting."

A whipping sound was heard from Howard's phone, which made both Howard and Raj laugh. Sheldon frowned at Howard for his interruption before turning back to Leonard, "Howard in his childish way is right Leonard, Penny is controlling your life since you two moved in together."

"She doesn't control my life; we just check with each other before we commit the other." Leonard defended himself and his girlfriend.

"I disagree, when Penny lived across the hall you had much more freedom and control over your life." Sheldon stated like it was a fact.

"WHAT!" Leonard stared at Sheldon like he just grew two heads, Howard and Raj were also stunned that Sheldon would say something like that.

Sheldon of course didn't understand why they were all looking at him like that, until he suddenly thought he understood, "Do you need me to explain it to you in simpler terms, though I cannot understand how you could miss the obvious signs."

"No Sheldon I don't need it explained to me." Leonard tried to calm himself, he did not want to use his inhaler, "You have controlled my life since the day I moved in with you, I couldn't eat what I wanted, couldn't watch what I wanted on TV, I couldn't even go to the bathroom when I wanted, you tried to control every aspect of my life and now you are saying Penny is controlling my life! I have never been so free since I moved into our apartment building."

Sheldon was a little taken back by Leonard's tirade, he also didn't appreciate Howard and Raj nodding in agreement. "Leonard I was just trying to help you, you were like a hippie when you first moved in and even though my time was more important that trying to train you, I made the time so you could be better, and this is the thanks you give me."

Leonard just got angrier at Sheldon's use of the words "help", "train" and "better" in describing how he treated him all those years, so he said the next words without even thinking, "So you putting me down all these years about my work, my habits and my life was helping me be better!"

Sheldon shook his head like he was talking to someone who could just not understand, "Leonard, I was just protecting you from disappointment and allowing to you make your biggest contribution to science that you could ever make, by assisting me with the more menial aspects of life."

"Training me to serve you." Leonard then let out a sarcastic chuckle, Leonard felt like exploding and he knew if he stayed, he would have to use his inhaler, and the thought of showing any weakness to Sheldon right now seeming revolting to him. "Well, this trained money has something to do tonight." Leonard then looked down at his food, it was meatloaf, the cafeteria made terrible meatloaf but it was all they had today, he suddenly didn't feel the least bit hungry. "I'm done with lunch." So, he quickly stood up with his tray, "I'm going back to my office." he then turned and dumped his lunch in the trash before heading out of the cafeteria.

Sheldon just huffed in derision before looking back to Howard and Raj. "That is why Leonard will never get tenure, he can't even complete an argument without running away in defeat."

"That was sort of cruel Sheldon." Raj responded.

Sheldon shrugged, "I just told him the truth, it is not my fault he can't take it." He then looked at Raj and Howard again, "Dinner is at 6:30 tonight, Raj it is your turn to pick it up."

"I'm not coming tonight Sheldon; I have a date with Lucy." Raj explained

"That is unacceptable, tonight is takeout night with everyone!" Sheldon admonished him.

"No, tonight is date night with Lucy. I'm not coming Sheldon." Raj now stated firmly

Sheldon huffed then looked at Howard, "Howard, you are next to pick up the food, since Raj seems to not care anymore about our long-standing tradition."

"You mean you want me to pick up takeout with Bernadette to bring to your apartment so we can eat with you and Amy." Howard said slowly

"Yes, and be there at 6:30 sharp." Sheldon added.

"Nope." was the only response Howard made.

"What do you mean 'Nope'." Sheldon questioned.

"Nope, Nyet, Nein, Non, and in Klingon, Ghobe." Howard now responded sarcastically

"I know what Ghobe means." Sheldon said in frustration, hating any attempt to talk down to him, "Why can't you come over tonight?"

"If you think I'm going to come over to hear you all night bitch about Leonard and now Raj, plus subject Bernadette to it, you are crazy." Howard explained.

"But tonight, is takeout night and we all eat at my apartment." Sheldon said with concern, getting the feeling he was completely losing control of the situation which was very disturbing to him.

"I wouldn't worry so much about takeout night if I were you, I would wonder how I was getting home tonight after pissing off the person who was driving you." Howard now told him.

"Leonard and I have an agreement, he has to drive me home." Sheldon said confidently

"Does he?" Raj now stated.

Sheldon stopped to think about it, Leonard had gotten very mad at him before and many times when that happened, he did have to find his own way home. Also, did he really want to ride home with an angry Leonard, he was barely a satisfactory driver when he wasn't upset, being mad was really risking his life, plus Penny's car was a death trap. Sheldon looked at Raj, "Maybe you are right, in Leonard's current state he is not safe to ride with, so you need to drive me home."

"Sheldon remember, I have a date with Lucy, I have no extra time to drive you home." Raj said with a little smile.

Sheldon huffed again and turned to Howard, "You need to drive me home."

"Sheldon, I drove my scooter today, I'm not giving you a ride home, the last time you rode with me you went into panic mode and almost killed us both."

"I thought Bernadette told you to trade that in for a car." Sheldon now stated, like somehow that made a difference to his need for a ride home.

"She suggested it." Howard said defensively.

Raj chuckled, "She suggested that if you didn't get a car by the end of the month, she was selling the scooter herself."

"Shut Up!" was Howard's only response.

Things were quiet for a couple seconds before Sheldon spoke again, "So which one of you is getting me home?"

"You seem to have a problem understanding, we can't drive you and you pissed off the only person that can drive you." Howard said with a little bit of delight in his voice.

"Well how am I supposed to get home." Sheldon now asked in frustration.

"I don't know, but whoever takes you better stop to get the takeout for your dinner tonight." Howard said with a chuckle, followed quickly by Raj chuckling at Sheldon's frustration.

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Penny sat on the small sofa in Leonard's office, just waiting. She had seen his messenger bag and laptop on his desk and knew he never came home without them so he would have to come back there before he left. She also knew that she was in no mood to do anything until she saw Leonard so she decided just to sit there and wait. While she waited, she was trying to figure out why she was so upset that she wanted to cry over it, she usually could just handle things without that much emotion but this was really getting to her. She hated that Sheldon put down Leonard about this tenure thing and she hated that Leonard didn't tell her about it the night before and how he was worried about it. The happiness she experienced before she had about her commercials didn't seem that great anymore just knowing that Leonard was having problems and was hiding them to not upset her happiness.

All this thinking was bothering her, so she almost jumped when she heard someone put a key into the office door lock then turn the handle and open it, that person making her jump off the couch quickly, forgetting immediately everything she had been thinking about, the need to hold him now her only thought. "LEONARD!" was all Penny said before she rushed to him.

Leonard was a little startled, first by someone being already in his office, then that person rushing at him yelling his name, but then his mind caught up just as Penny reached him and engulfed him in a strong hug. It only took a second to return her hug and as he did he felt immensely better, the anger for Sheldon seeming to dissipate every second he was in Penny's arms, her smell, the softness of her body and her just being so close and wanting him being more important to him than anything else that day had threw at him. He did know though that if he had been counting 'Mississippi's" while they hugged, he would have lost count a long time ago because they just stood there for a while holding each other tight and not saying a word.

He had actually lost track of time but after a while Leonard felt extremely calm, so he slightly loosened his hold on Penny, her doing the same but even still they stayed in each other's arms, Penny's head now in the crook of Leonard's neck where she gave him a small kiss. Leonard first reaction was now to ask her why she was there, but after a second or two of thought he really didn't care and was just happy she was, so his first words reflected this happiness. "This is nice, I needed this."

The words made Penny feel good, after all that happened that morning, making Leonard happy just washed away the pain she was feeling and made her feel good. She gave him another small kiss on the neck before responding to him, "I'm always here if you need me."

Leonard smiled, "And I'm here for you too." he then gave her a little squeeze which she returned. It also made him realize what he wanted to do right now with her, "Have you eaten lunch?"

Penny hadn't thought about food till he brought it up, both her mind and body both being to agitated to even think of food, but now she felt content and happy so she did feel hungry. "I could eat." she told him with a little giggle.

Leonard now separated from her and smiled at her, her returning his smile just as quickly. "Let me just make a call and we can go."

Penny listened as Leonard told the department secretary he was leaving for the day, smiling at him in the understanding that he would be spending the rest of the day with her. She then quietly watched him pack up his laptop and some papers into his messenger bag before smiling at her and asking if she was ready to go. Penny couldn't help but smile widely back, before leaning over to kiss him on the lips and tell him 'yes'. They were in the SUV a few minutes later heading to lunch, both of them content to be with each other and much happier than they had been less than an hour before.

It was 10-minutes later that one Dr. Sheldon Cooper came up to Leonard's office and tried to open the door only to find it locked before he commenced with his ritual knocks to no avail. He had gone to Leonard's lab first to find it empty so he was now convinced that Leonard was in his office hiding from him, but for Sheldon that would be no problem. Taking out the key for Leonard's office, he had made after taking and copying the one from Leonard's keychain, one weekend while he was preoccupied, he now opened the door to catch Leonard at his attempt to hide. However, Sheldon was completely surprised he had been wrong, the office was empty and the lights were out making all the confidence, he had just a moment before, bleed out like an open wound and as he walked out and relocked the door Dr. Sheldon Cooper was forced to address his greatest problem of that day, who was going to take him home?


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

It didn't take long to get there and it wasn't very fancy restaurant but it didn't really need to be, they stopped at a local Olive Garden, just before the lunch specials expired for the day, and put in their orders. The waitress delivered a salad and breadsticks to start them off while their lunches were being made and they each had a glass of wine and an ice water in front of them. The day now seemed so much better for Penny, since her talk with Bernadette, her being now in the happy mood she was before that conversation since she was now with Leonard, so it was easy for her to express the comfort and happiness she now felt. "This is nice."

Leonard smiled at her, "Yeah, it is, isn't it? We should do this more often."

A large smile immediately formed on Penny's face as she reached over to take his hand and give it a squeeze, "I would like that."

Leonard gave her hand a squeeze back, then sort of shook his head, "This is a lot better than having lunch with the guys, that is for sure."

Penny now frowned as she thought back about what Bernadette had said only a short time earlier that day. "Were they giving you a hard time about something?"

"Well not so much Howard and Raj, they were just being...Howard and Raj. It was Sheldon that was being an ass again, much more of an ass than he is normally." Leonard then shook his head, "GOD! I don't know how I put up with him for so long, living with you has really opened my eyes."

Leonard saying that made Penny feel bad and what she said next, she said without thinking, "We should have moved in together years ago."

Leonard just looked at her, a blank almost sad look on his face, and Penny knew immediately what he was thinking about, their breakup after he told her he loved her, it actually made Penny's heart hurt to remember she did that to him. She had loved him then, but she couldn't commit to him, so she broke it off thinking it was better for him, it had been one of the biggest mistakes of her life. However, right now she could see her words had brought back past bad memories and she knew she had to do something to break this awkward situation, so she squeezed his hand again and said in a slow steady voice while looking directly at him, "I love you Leonard."

Leonard blinked a couple of times as a smile reformed on his face, "Thank You."

Penny's eyes went wide, before she began to giggle, "You Ass. But I guess I deserved that." she responded, then nervously giggled a little more.

Leonard slowly shook his head, "No you don't really." he then looked at her seriously. "That time will always be a memory to us but just a memory. What is happening now between us is what really matters, how we feel about each other and what we are doing now about that."

Penny nodded slowly and gave him a shy smile, "I like the way you said that, you are so smart, and you hang around with other geniuses all the time and sometimes I admit I just take that for granted but Sweetie once I got to know you, there was no turning back for me." she let a small giggle escape her lips, "You have ruined me for other men, you know that."

Leonard smiled at her, "You hang around with geniuses all the time, too. Your two best female friends are PhD's, so what does that say about you." he smiled a little bigger at her, "Penny you are a lot smarter than you think, you are a very important member of our group and you understand us, especially when it comes to the important things." Penny now just stared at him, so he continued, "Penny, think about it, Sheldon can't stand to be around people he considers just average, and that is almost everybody, but he considers you his friend, he even goes to you for advice, the great Dr. Sheldon Cooper seeks you out for advice."

Penny just continued to stare at him, he always did this, made her feel better about herself, made her love him more, he was so special to her she didn't think she could go on with her life anymore without him in it. It was that thought that made her do what she did next, she was going to cry and she knew there was only one way to stop that so she got up from sitting across from Leonard and moved over to sit next to him. She then only had to reach up to put her arms around his neck for him to wrap her in his arms and hug her close to him, it felt so good that it stopped the tears from coming and made her relax again from the emotion that was just about to bust out of her. She felt so good being in his arms, his smell, his warm body against hers and way he just knew how to hold her was something she couldn't understand but was extremely thankful for, he was just perfect, no other man could even compete with him, he was just too good.

Penny didn't know how long they hugged, she had closed her eyes and soon was lost in the warm comforting feeling he gave her while he held her, so she was a little surprised when she heard, "Ah, excuse me, your lunch is ready...if you are ready to eat." She then reluctantly separated from him, the content feeling she had still warming her so much that she felt no embarrassment from being interrupted by the waitress.

"No that's fine, we're ready to eat." Leonard answered and Penny just gave a small smile and nodded.

The waitress, who seemed a little embarrassed, just nodded then put the plates of food in front of them, letting out a small sigh before saying, "If you need anything else just let me know." before she quickly turned and left.

Penny leaned on Leonard and put her head on his shoulder, immediately getting rewarded with his arm going around her and pulling her closer, it made a little hum of contentment leave her lips. "I wish we were in bed right now." she softly said.

Leonard gave her a small chuckle, "Then you would go hungry."

Penny let out a small giggle, "Think about it genius, food wouldn't even be on my mind."

Leonard smiled, "How about after we eat, we take a drive down to the beach and take a walk along the surf to get rid of some of that energy."

"Really, you want to walk along the beach with me?" Penny said after lifting her head off his shoulder to look at him in obvious surprise.

Leonard chuckled, "Sure, why not, you always say I need to get out more and we have the afternoon off."

"Oh Leonard." Penny moved her head to kiss him on the lips.

As soon as their lips parted, Leonard chuckled again. "Of course, that is only if you are a good girl and eat your lunch."

Penny smiled at him, "Deal." she then started to eat, but now without staying extremely close to him, their hips touching and their arms rubbing against each other as they ate, neither of them seeming to mind the closeness at all.

They had a pleasant ride to the coast, rush hour had not really started yet, and soon they had the car parked and their shoes, and in Leonard's case, socks, off, as they walked along the surf line at one of the public beaches. It wasn't very crowded, since it was a weekday afternoon, so it made for a very comforting walk, them hand in hand as the water came up on their toes as they walked. Penny had always dated guys taller than her but ever since she had been around Leonard, she had more and more appreciated him being about the same height as her, like right now holding hands with him as they walked seemed just perfect. Their whole present situation made her feel so good and comfortable she just wanted to make sure he was happy so the reason she had come to Cal Tech to see him that day popped back into her mind.

"Leonard why was Sheldon giving you a bad time, today?" She asked him while they walked.

Leonard shrugged, "Does he need a particular reason, you know him, he was just being Sheldon."

"Did it have anything to do with tenure." she cautiously asked

Leonard now looked at her, "Who told you about that?" surprise evident in his question.

"Bernadette, told me that you guys are all up for tenure and that Sheldon was being his usual pain in the ass and putting you and Raj down about it." Penny just blurted out, hoping that just saying it outright, instead of beating around the bush, would be easier.

Leonard gave a little snort and then shook his head, finally just looking forward as they continued walking. "That was part of it, but I can deal with that, it was just the other stuff he said that got to me."

"What was that?" Penny again cautiously asked, she really did want to do something to help him with his problem with Sheldon.

Leonard sighed, "It is really nothing, I guess I'm too sensitive sometimes to the things he says." he then shrugged again.

Penny hated that Sheldon would do this to Leonard, she had gotten very protective of him, especially now that they were roommates and so it really bothered her when he was going through something like he was now. "I'm a good listener, Honey." she said softly to him.

Leonard looked at her and saw only concern on her face, plus she called him honey which he knew meant she was serious, so he shrugged before opening up. "It was just..." he began and then told her everything that happened at lunch, then everything that was said previously about tenure.

It had taken between 10-15 minutes for Leonard to get everything out and Penny found herself getting mad, but she kept quiet until Leonard had said everything he had to say, she knew that getting mad would not be productive to his situation with Sheldon. "Honey, Sheldon is an arrogant, selfish ass, don't take anything he says seriously. I never understood how you could put up with him for so long."

Leonard nodded, she had basically stated what he said before, but after listening to her say it, it made him think. "You know, to be honest and fair it wasn't all bad, there were good times too, he was my friend."

Penny looked at him seriously, "Did the good times at least equal the bad times, all the schedules, the roommate agreements that only benefited him, and the constant putting you down?" she now couldn't help but let some of her anger out.

Leonard shrugged, "I don't know." he then looked seriously at her, "But I guess it is like what we said at the restaurant, it is a memory now and it is not the way I live now." he gave her a small smile.

It was obvious to Penny that his small smile meant he was much happier in their current situation and that was something Penny could fully agree with him, she loved having him as her roommate. She only wished she would have known all this a few years before, she would have had him move in with her back then and they would have never broken up in the first place. Also, she thought, if they had moved in together back then, they would probably be married to each other by now and she was momentarily surprised how that thought didn't seem to bother her as much as it had done before.

"A Penny for your thoughts." Leonard asked with a chuckle.

"Huh?" Penny barely answered being broken from her thoughts of her and Leonard as husband and wife.

"It seemed I lost you there for a moment you were so deep in thought." he again chuckled.

Penny smiled as she looked at him, then leaned over and kissed him, the kiss getting very intense in a very short time, before it finally broke, both of them just looking at each other with dilated eyes and both of them not sure what to say. It was finally Penny who broke the spell, a small seductive smile on her face, "You know there is a hotel just over there, we could get a room."

Leonard looked at her in surprise, then a smile formed on his lips as her words sunk in. "We could eat dinner later at one of the seaside restaurants and take another walk at dusk to watch the sun go down. I can take some time off tomorrow morning from work too, so we don't have to get up too early." him now getting into her suggestion, too.

Penny's smile got larger, "I'd like that. Why don't we go back to the car and go get checked in, I could use a little afternoon nap right now." she then winked at Leonard.

It was only thirty minutes later, that they had checked in at one of the nicer hotels on the coastline, the clerk giving them a knowing look when she saw they had no baggage. They then made a quick stop at the hotel's gift/tourist shop, which was very well stocked, where they picked up some toiletries, a swimsuit each and flipflops for both of them, and Penny found a sundress she thought was cute and bought a sort of vacation shirt for Leonard she thought would look nice on him, before they headed off to their room. It was actually an extremely nice room with large jacuzzi tub in the bathroom, that Penny quickly determined could easily accommodate two people, and a huge California King Size bed, which made both Penny and Leonard smile at each other after they saw it. However, it was the balcony that really drew their attention, since they were on the top most floor of regular rooms, the final two stories reserved for expensive suites and a penthouse floor type accommodation. Penny and Leonard just stood on the deck for several minutes, Penny in Leonard's arms just looking at the ocean, beach and at everything else below them, their view allowing them to see a couple of miles of coast line.

Finally, it was Penny that spoke after they had just stood there together for a while, "That tub looks good, do you want to soap me up?" she then gave him her sexiest look.

Leonard never said a word, he just smiled and turned, holding her hand, then lead her to the bathroom and the jacuzzi tub, Penny practically skipping in happiness behind him.

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Penny couldn't get the smile off her face the next day, even after dropping Leonard off at work in the afternoon. The last 24-hours still firmly etched in her mind, she couldn't even remember having so much romantic fun with a man, ever, as she had with Leonard since they left Cal Tech the day before. It was hard for her not to remember every happy moment she had with him, from the bath and sex they first had after they got in their room, which continued even after they got out of the tub, both of them only in the hotel supplied robes, no sooner laying on the bed then again not being able to keep their hands off each other. Penny giggled as she remembered how tired they were after that as they then cuddled extremely close to each other and then took a nap, waking up a couple hours later to take a swim, which surprisingly Penny didn't have almost any problem convincing Leonard to do. It made her giggle again when she thought that the little yellow bikini, she had bought probably weakened any defenses Leonard had, especially when she told him after they had their swim, he could take it off of her.

Those couple of hours of swimming had been really fun, they first went into the pool then the ocean, again in the pool before finally ending up in the hot tub, them both relaxing in the warm water after running around so much, especially in the ocean surf. True to her word, she let Leonard remove her bikini, before they got in the shower back at the room and this time had shower sex, her thinking she wasn't sure who wanted it more after their swimming excursion, her or him, her finding herself lusting after him the whole time they were out swimming. She then smiled again as she remembered them then getting dressed up, her in the new sundress and him in the shirt she bought him, then went to eat at this wonderful beach side restaurant, on the beach side balcony where they could feel the ocean breeze and watch the waves as they came ashore. It was so romantic, it made Penny feel so cared about, that she couldn't help it later when they left the restaurant and then took a walk along the beach, to watch the sun set, that as soon as it got darker she wanted to do it on the beach with him. Penny was happy she was now driving alone as she knew she was blushing when she thought how badly she had wanted him then, them going behind a little rock outcropping on the beach and her slipping off her panties to make herself available to him. It was really very quick, not because of him, the naughtiness of what they were doing and the chance of getting caught, along with her strong desire for Leonard, made her reach her release only a couple minutes after they started and while Leonard keep going to seek his, she found herself reaching it again when he finally did.

Penny couldn't help but giggle again to herself as she thought how they made their way quickly, well as quickly as they could after their sexual exertion, to the hotel and got in the tub again, which again led to sex, them both seeming to recover at the same time from their beach coupling. Then when they did get out of the tub eventually, quickly taking a couple minutes to wash their underwear in the sink to hang up to dry for the next day, it giving them a short interlude which allowed them to recover sufficiently to want each other sexually again, finally falling in a deep sleep wrapped in each other's arms. It had felt so good to sleep in Leonard's arms, the security of knowing you were loved and wanted, even after the sex, making it feel so much better than she could ever remember with anyone else.

Penny then smiled again to herself as she remembered what happened just a few hours ago, how they had gotten up from their sleep that morning, kissing each other and wanting each other again before they washed up and had breakfast brought to their room. The rest of the morning involved checking out and driving Leonard to work, them kissing each other so much Penny couldn't even begin to guess how many times their lips met, and even though she was a little sore from all they had done over the last 24-hours she knew if Leonard was with her now she would be driving back to their apartment as fast as she could just to get back in bed with him.

In her whole life, Penny had never felt this way about another man, she just couldn't seem to get enough of Leonard, him just looking at her with any sort of desire getting her motor running almost immediately. This, for the first time in her life, made her think she now knew what love really was, it was not what she felt with Kurt or even Mike, it was the way Leonard made her feel and how she didn't want it to end. Those thoughts also made her sigh, as she knew she was now about to start overthinking, a trait that had somehow rubbed off on her from being with Leonard for so long, as she began to think about how things were so good between them and basically had been ever since they moved in together. Them seeing each other every day, over the last months, only brought them closer, completely shattering any fears she had previously that familiarity and seeing each other every day would destroy the intimacy that they already had. She had been thinking more and more about Leonard as her life partner for a while now and though it still scared her to settle down and start a family with anyone, she knew that if she could do it with anyone it could only be Leonard.

It was almost a blessing that the notification of an incoming call came over the SUV's speakers, Penny's good morning mood now tainted with thoughts of having to become more mature and give up her young life and everything that came with it, while trying to keep Leonard with her all the time. The realization that she could not just keep things the way they were, that just like several years ago, when he told her he loved her, she would have to address marriage with him in the future, and unlike before she didn't have the heart to let him go anymore, and unlike before, she was way too much crazy in love with him now. Thankfully the fifth phone ring forced her mind to address the call, which happily was from Amy, and got her away from this train of thought.

"Hey Ames." she picked up, attempting to get that happy mood back from just a few minutes ago.

"Penny, are you busy this afternoon?" came the quick response from her friend.

The immediate question confused her as her mind was still trying to clear its thoughts of Leonard and marriage, "Umm, what time is it?" her mind still trying to catch up and not even realizing there was a clock in the dash of the SUV right in front of her.

There was silence on the Amy's end of the conversation for a couple of moments before she finally responded, "It is just after 1 PM, bestie...Is everything okay?"

Penny lightly shook her head as her mind now caught up, "Everything is fine, I was just having a blonde moment, thinking about a few things when you called."

"Oh...okay." was all Amy could think to say.

"Anyway Ames, what is going on." Penny now responded; her voice now much cheerier.

Amy was still a little confused about what just happened but hearing Penny respond like she normally did made Amy overlook the weird way Penny answered her call at first, "Well, I need someone with fashion sense to help me buy a dress for a semi-formal gathering, and my first thoughts were you."

"I'm flattered." Penny responded, though she knew she was the only person Amy knew that had any fashion sense, her other close friend, Bernadette, still almost always including tights in everything she bought and still buying a lot of her clothes in the teenage girl sections.

"So, since I just completed the testing portion, of the study I'm working on, this morning, I can spare the time this afternoon to take off and do a little shopping, which made me think of you." Amy explained.

Penny quickly tried to determine if Amy just gave her a compliment or an insult with the shopping remark, couldn't decide which it was, so decided to let it go. "I have to pick up Leonard at 5 PM so we would have to go now."

"That is fine, bestie. I can be closed up here in about ten minutes so if you could meet me in the mall at say about 1:45 at the food court, we could shop for a good two hours, which should be enough time." Amy now suggested.

Penny turned her car into the parking lot of their apartment building and quickly mentally confirmed that it would give her just enough time to run to her apartment, change and freshen up, allowing her still time to meet Amy on time. "Okay, Ames, I'll see you there."

Amy smiled, happy now that everything was working on concerning her original quickly put together plan for the afternoon and that she would be enjoying some shopping with her bestie. "Great Penny, see you then, bye."

"See you in a few, bye." Penny responded, before shutting off the SUV and hanging up. She now had to quickly get upstairs and get ready, her previous heavy thoughts about her and Leonard's future now forgotten.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Penny meet Amy at 1:50 PM, proud of herself that she was only 5-minutes late, which Amy didn't seem to mind as she was sitting and waiting at a table while drinking a fruit smoothie. They only wasted a couple minutes with greetings and a hug, then after Penny bought herself a smoothie too, they quickly headed into the mall to look for a dress shop that sold semi-formal attire. That too only taking a few minutes since it was easy to pass up the stores that sold clothes to teenagers and going only to the stores that sold women's clothes.

"Is there something I can show you?" the salesgirl that had a nametag that said "Gail" asked them as they went into the dress section of the store.

"Yes Gail, my friend here is going to a semi-formal event and is some need of a new dress." Penny quickly said, her sense of fun coming out as she was really curious what the salesgirl would suggest for Amy, not having any idea of Amy's extremely conservative ideas about clothes.

Gail smiled, "If I could take just a couple measurements, I think I can offer you some nice suggestions." she said with a smile as she looked at Amy.

Amy looked at Penny with some concern, getting only a nod and smile from her bestie, before she then turned to Gail. "Okay."

Gail quickly took her measurements of an obviously nervous Amy before she ran off leaving Amy and Penny to sit in a couple of chairs by themselves waiting for her to return. It was during that couple moments of quiet that Penny got curious why Amy was buying a new dress. "Are you going to a social function at work?"

Amy shook her head, then looked at Penny, "I'm actually going to a social function with Sheldon."

Penny's eyes went wide, "Sheldon, like in Sheldon Cooper, Dr. Sheldon Cooper is taking you to a social function!" she asked in surprise.

Amy nodded with a smile, obviously happy with both idea of going to a social function with Sheldon and her bestie's surprise at Sheldon was taking her to one. "It is a nice surprise isn't it, Sheldon invited me to their Physics fundraiser this Friday as his date."

Penny just stared at her, not remembering Leonard saying anything about a fundraiser this Friday and for a moment wondering why not. It then dawned on her that she had gone to one of those when they first were a couple years ago, and since the other girls weren't there she was bored out of her mind as Leonard talked science stuff with the donors. She had told Leonard about how bored she was after they left that social gathering that night and she remembered it ended up with them not in a fight but with them going to their own apartments to sleep that night. She immediately felt bad as she rationalized that Leonard probably remembered that and it was the reason, she had not heard anything about this Friday night.

"Penny are you okay." Amy said breaking Penny out of her thoughts.

"Umm...yeah, sorry Ames, another blonde moment." Penny quickly answered as she made her thoughts come back to the present.

It was then the salesgirl returned with some nice dresses that Penny knew Amy would never wear, but saved her from explaining what she was thinking about to Amy. "Those look nice." she quickly said.

Amy turned to Penny with sad puppy dog eyes, obviously not happy with anything the salesgirl had brought before she whispered to her friend, very quietly, "Help."

Penny immediately took pity on her friend, the fun of watching what Amy's reaction to what the salesgirl would bring to her now over and Penny not wanting to see her friend suffer anymore in trying on dresses she would never wear. So, Penny just smiled to the salesgirl, "Let us think about those and look around at what else you have, if you don't mind."

The salesgirl's smile immediately faded and she then just nodded, before hanging the clothes on a nearby rack in case they wanted to try them on, "Okay, well I'm hear if need me." she said in a very dejected tone.

Penny kept smiling, "We will when we get closer to something we like. Thank you." she then watched as Gail just nodded and then walked away, before turning back to Amy. "Do you want to look at some other dresses now?" she then quickly asked her friend.

Amy now smiled, "Yes, thanks Penny."

"No problem, I think we should start over there." Penny then pointed to an area where she saw some more conservative styles, which quickly got a nod and smile from Amy.

It was just over two hours later that Amy and Penny exited the Mall each with a dress bag in their arms, both happy that they had gotten what they wanted after almost two hours of serious dress shopping. It was Amy who spoke first when they had to separate to go their separate ways to their cars. "Thanks for helping me today Penny, you are truly a fashionista."

"Thanks Ames, I hope you like what you got." Penny knowing that what Amy just said was meant as a compliment.

"Oh Penny, I love it and I think Sheldon will too. Also, it is going to be fun with you being there too." Amy answered.

Penny nodded and smiled, "I know it will be nice to have you there, too." Penny had talked to Amy about the fundraiser while Amy tried on the first set of dresses and had made up her mind she was going with Leonard, too. It was not just that she felt bad about her complaining to Leonard before and that resulting in him not even telling her about this event, but because after talking to Amy she had a good idea why Sheldon was going and why he was taking Amy with him. Although, she knew from talking with Leonard that fundraisers were mandatory for every scientist who worked off grants at Cal Tech, Sheldon had been pretty much except from them after basically embarrassing President Siebert at the last one he was forced to go to, which made Sheldon perfectly happy. So, it made Penny immediate suspicious when Amy told her Sheldon wanted to attend the one on Friday and wanted her along with him. It really didn't take Penny long to figure why as she asked more subtle questions of Amy, bringing more money in to the university meant that someone could be seen as a more valuable employee, one that they would not want to lose, and that would be a good reason to offer that person tenure. Sheldon wasn't very good with people but Amy was and she was also good for getting grants for her department, so Sheldon was using her to help him get grants and improve his chances at getting tenure.

"Well if I don't see you sooner, I'll see you on Friday. Bye." Amy said with a smile as she turned to walk off.

"Yes, you will. Bye." Penny responded while thinking two can play at Sheldon's game, if he was going to use Amy to help him get grants, she was going to help Leonard get grants too. She had been very careful in selecting a dress for Friday's event, making sure she didn't get anything like what she would wear to bars with the girls to get free drinks, no the dress she got was a real cocktail dress, that was still a little bit sexy but did not overly expose her anywhere and looked proper for a professor's wife. The word "Wife" did cause her to shutter but she was so mad at Sheldon trying to pull this stunt Friday to upstage Leonard that she just let it go. She was going to use every charm she had in her to schmooze the donors to give money to Leonard, she still was the personality in her and Leonard's relationship and she knew she could carry conversations for him when he got to shy or tongue-tied. She was going to be there for him and help him get tenure, and she was going to punish Sheldon for ever telling Leonard that he was only good for being just a servant to the great Dr. Sheldon Cooper, she would make him eat those words before she was done.


End file.
